Witch Sword
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Aurora Potter is an unusual girl. Not only is she a Meister...but her mother was a witch! When her aunt tries to kill her in order to keep her son in DWMA, she runs away. Now she's being trained by Mifune and having to deal with her new partner Masamune.
1. Chapter 1

It all started easily enough. A madman with magic came after a family, and killed the parents with only the child being spared through the god's own luck.

An old man with the ambition to rule the community he lived in with an iron fist left the orphan with her magic hating relatives, intended to retrieve her when she was ready to start her magical education. The only person he left as a guard for the girl was a woman who was unlucky enough to be born in a magical family, but was unable to access her magic.

What the old man didn't count on was the fact that while Lily Potter ne Evans was a witch, she also possessed another power that even he had never heard of.

Lily Evans was a Meister. Her sister had been born with the weapon gene, which she passed to her son.

Since Petunia Dursley was terrified her beloved son would turn out to be exactly like his aunt and cousin, she convinced her husband to move them to Death City in the hopes that the two could learn a more suitable profession other than magic.

And now, our real story begins.

* * *

Aurora was not very happy. While she was thrilled that she didn't have the same classes as her awful cousin, she still had to deal with her guardians at night. She was also the youngest meister attending the Academy, which meant it opened her up to a lot of teasing from her classmates.

Fortunately, none of the teachers had a problem with her hiding in the library for hours on end. After all, the paper exams were mostly a formality.

At Death Weapon Meister Academy, the most important thing were the practical lessons.

There was only one tiny catch.

Aurora didn't have a weapon partner. Her specialty was mostly blade type weapons, but all the good ones were taken. Or they refused to partner up with someone so young.

Which meant she spent a lot of time in the library reading. Thanks to that, her intelligence jumped by leaps and bounds.

* * *

"Witches are people born with a power called magic. While you are required to hunt and consume at least one witch's soul for your weapon, we prefer it if you only go after witches that actually _cause_ trouble. All around the world, there are secret communities of witches (both male and female) that do not cause any trouble and live normal lives like us," said Sid.

From behind her, a student raised their hand.

"Yes Ox?"

"Are witches allowed to enroll at the Academy?"

Sid looked at him sharply.

"While it is our job to preserve the peace and hunt witches, there are some cases when a witch has enrolled and become a successful Meister or Weapon. Though the only time it's allowed is if the witch in question has followed the rules Lord Death has set down. And if they have never eaten a human soul."

"So witches aren't evil?" asked another.

"Most of the witches you encountered in the field usually are. But the best policy is to determine if you are facing a run of the mill witch or one you can hunt is to wait and see if they attack you first. If they attack you without probable cause, then it is acceptable for you to hunt them. Otherwise you are recommended to leave them be."

Aurora raised her hand.

"What is the easiest way to tell if the person you are facing is actually a witch, and not a Wiccan?"

Sid stared at her. Mostly because it had become very clear how much time the girl had spent in the library. Very few of the students would ever notice the difference between a witch and a Wicca practitioner.

"The most common type of witch that you may hunt usually invoke their powers using a simple rhyme that tends to be related to their bound familiar. A few have a rhyme that is based on their power, but such witches are rare. The ones that disguise themselves best, which are part of the magical communities I have discussed use a stick that they call a wand. If you somehow find yourself in a situation where you have seen something even remotely magic related, they will often send someone to erase the memory of the event," said Sid.

* * *

Aurora read the book with open amusement. It only grew when she read the author.

Who would believe that Excalibur was so vain as to write a book about himself?

It was as she was reading the book that she failed to notice her cousin sneak up behind her. He sneered and grabbed it from her hands.

"What's a freak like you think you're doing?" he asked.

Aurora winced, then an idea came to her. It was a cruel, spiteful one, but then again so was her stupid cousin.

"Hey Dudley, did you know that anyone who can beat the holy sword can graduate early?" she said suddenly.

Dudley hated the classwork, and barely managed to pass the practicals. To make matters worse, he didn't even have a proper meister, which angered him to no end.

"Where is this...holy sword?" he asked.

"That book there tells you exactly where to find him," she told him.

Dudley hated reading. It was one of the reasons he avoided the library like the plague.

"Or I could ask an upperclassmen to take you there," she suggested.

That appealed to him.

It took little convincing for the older student to lead Dudley to the cave. Of course when her aunt learned why her son came back with broken bones and an irate letter from Excalibur to Lord Death, she wasn't very happy.

But things came to a boil when her son complained that they were planning on kicking him out of Shibusen.

He was a perpetual headache to everyone, and none of the teachers would vouch for him. His grades were so bad that it would have been a miracle for him to even graduate with his class.

Whereas every teacher who had Aurora absolutely loved the girl. She was attentive, followed orders and even helped the other students with their homework. The only complaint they had was that she spent far too much time in the library to be healthy and kept skipping classes for no reason.

Oh, and she didn't have a partner yet, but most thought that was because the girl wanted a proper Japanese katana instead of the broadswords.

Petunia knew exactly what she had to do to help her son. She would help him in getting a witch's soul. She didn't even like her niece anyway.

"So if I eat the freak's soul I can stay in the Academy?" asked Dudley, trying to think.

"The letter said that the only way you could stay was to get at least ten Kishin souls or one witch's soul. And Aurora is a witch."

Dudley didn't know how to react to that news. Neither of them realized that Aurora had heard the entire conversation. She hid in her small room to think.

_I'm...a witch? Then why did they accept me in the school? I always thought mom was a meister. And male witches can't pass the magic gene...I think._

As she sat there, she heard the door open.

Apparently Petunia wanted to kill her sooner than she had thought.

She had three options.

She could run away through the window and hope to survive the fall. She could let her aunt kill her and suffer with living inside her fat cousin. Or she could attack her aunt and never come back to the Academy.

She took the lamp from her desk and shattered the glass. Petunia's look of rage fueled her jump. Something inside of her cushioned the fall, and made the glass avoid her. She did a perfect duck and roll, and ran for her life.

She had no idea that someone had seen everything that had happened. Someone who could have protected her from her aunt, had she just asked for help.

Lord Death felt saddened that Aurora felt the need to leave Death City just because she found out the truth. The girl was likely the strongest meister in a generation, yet she didn't feel safe in the one place where she could actually find peace.

All because of the other half of her heritage.

It wasn't the first time that Death wondered whether sending Lily Evans to that school was such a wise idea. If he hadn't sent her undercover to make sure that the witches in their precious magic societies were a threat, she would have lived.

* * *

Aurora paused, breathing heavily. Unlike her cousin, she had adjusted quickly to the more physical exercises at the Academy. Four years of running from her obese cousin and his little gang of idiots had served her very well.

She was the fastest girl in her class.

Dudley still couldn't believe that people kept asking him to set them up with her. Even she didn't understand why they were so interested in someone like her.

She looked at where she was. She had been running for several days, and had absolutely no idea where she had gone. Then she sensed running water and started walking.

It took her another two hours to find the water. There was only one problem. It was a waterfall that ended in a hot spring. The water fall wasn't strong enough to dilute the sulfurous water. Still, a soak would do her tired body good.

She almost drowned when the warmth put her to sleep. If it wasn't for the fact that she woke up from being unable to breath, she would have died right there.

She choked, coughing up water. It was then that she realized someone was there.

She looked around carefully, and found her clothes. She hated wearing them because they all used to belong to her fat cousin and hung off her skinny frame badly. They tended to show bruises a little too well.

She tried to find who had intruded on her soak, and it took ten minutes before she bothered to look up.

It was a human male with a sword at his waist. She could only hope he didn't see her in the spring.

"Who are you?" he asked.

She looked at him, and tried not to burst into tears. The wound her aunt had left in her soul was still too fresh.

"My name is Aurora," she managed to get out.

"Have you come to attack Angela?" he asked seriously.

"Who? I have no intention on attacking anyone!" she protested.

He looked at her hard, then turned. If she wasn't after his charge, then he wasn't going to bother her.

* * *

For the next week, Aurora hung around the waterfall, having discovered a small cave behind the sheet of water. While it wasn't too cold, it also wasn't very comfortable. At all.

For some reason, the man from before had apparently figured out that she was still around, and had a soft spot for young children. Every once in a while, she would wake up to find some fruits or vegetables next to the spring. She considered the chance that he was trying to poison her, but years of living with her horrid aunt had taught her to eat practically anything if she had to.

She had been living in the cave nearly a month when her body finally protested to her current living arrangements.

The cave was cold and damp at night, and she had developed a high fever. She had walked outside the veil of water to try and find something to lower her fever...only to collapse without warning.

When she woke up, she found herself face to face with the man from before. And a little girl with a gecko or lizard on her hat.

"You're awake!" chirped the girl excitedly.

"Where am I?"

"Mifune found you at the stinky pond and brought you to the house!" said the girl.

"Mifune?"

The man from before looked at her. Then went back outside.

"What's your name?" asked the little girl.

"Aurora. My name's Aurora."

"That's a funny name. Rhymes with Pandora, like in the book Mifune reads to me!"

Aurora looked at the book in question. It was a collection of Greek mythology.

"You like to read books?" she asked.

The little girl nodded.

"My name's Angela, and I'm a witch!"

Aurora smiled. If she hadn't learned that she was born a witch too, it would have bothered her. But unlike that idiot Dudley, she actually _liked_ to play with little kids.

Mifune walked in with some strange concoction.

"Drink this."

She looked at it with confusion in her eyes.

"Fever reducer," he said simply.

He was surprised she didn't grimace at the taste. Then again, she was the only child he had ever met who always ate the vegetables and fruits he left her.

After a week (her fever had broken two days after Mifune had found her) she quickly realized how lonely Angela must have felt. Mifune wasn't exactly a conversation person. Then again, so long as she didn't try to hurt Angela or hunt her, he could care less if she stayed around.

Of course even he was surprised to learn that Pandora (Angela had started calling her that because it was easier to remember) could use magic.

Every night, Pandora would read to the little witch who treated her like family without question. The two learned how to cast magic together.

* * *

_Pan Pan Pandorian Pandemonium!_

The shadows under the tree collected under Pandora and she began to float. A fellow witch had explained why they used odd rhymes to use their powers. Which was why the first thing Pandora tried on her own was the power of flight.

Angela was on top of Mifune's shoulders watching. She had mastered hovering, but she didn't have enough magic just yet to actually fly.

After about five minutes her concentration was starting to slip. Until she fell ungracefully onto the ground with a thump.

"You flew Nee-chan!"

Pandora grinned. Then reappeared behind Angela with a pop.

"BOO!"

"Eek!" she squeaked with a laugh.

Mifune was quick to put the girl down before he got dragged into the game of tag.

Much to his surprise, Pandora was having a positive effect on Angela. It had become quickly apparent that Pandora wasn't used to being a child. And that she was far too used to pain for her age.

Once, when she was cooking dinner (she was rather good at it, and Angela actually _ate_ her vegetable concoctions) the knife had slipped and she had a rather deep cut. It had bothered him greatly when the girl didn't ask for help, but rather went into the bathroom and expertly bandaged the wound before finishing the cutting.

She didn't even flinch while she wielded the rather sharp knife. It had been that incident alone that had him decide to keep her around.

Then there was the fact that the girl had actually asked him to teach her how to properly use a sword.

She was a little too good at it, even though she had freely admitted that while she was at the DWMA, she had only used a wooden one.

It made Mifune wonder what her life had been like, that she was so willing to accept living with a Witch, even one as young as Angela.


	2. Chapter 2

_Breathe in, breath out._

A week prior, Mifune had been demonstrated a complicated move when Pandora accidentally managed to bruise her ribs by twisting the wrong way. Ever since then, Mifune had her doing breathing exercises until the bruise was gone.

He really didn't like the fact that Pandora wanted to train with her wooden sword some more, despite the pain she had to have been in at the time. He had taken to enlisted Angela in forcing her to relax long enough to heal.

Every time she tried to strain her ribs, whether it was stretching or trying to exercise, Angela would appear without warning to poke her side hard enough to make her wince. She didn't like the fact that her 'big sister' was injured and refused to get better without a fight.

So Mifune tried another tactic to get her to heal. He borrowed a few witchcraft books from the others and told her that she was to study what spells she would use once she was healed.

It had more or less worked.

* * *

"So there's a sword going around controlling people?" she asked the lady who ran the grocery.

Mifune and Pandora always flipped a coin to see who would get the food for the week. Usually Mifune won the toss.

"It's called the Enchanted Sword. Supposedly it takes control of a person's fear and latches on to their soul. And when it has complete control it devours it," said the woman with a shudder.

"Where is this sword supposed to be anyway?"

"They say it was last seen in Las Vegas."

Pandora felt a shiver go down her spine. Vegas was a four hour flight from where she lived.

She could easily run into the sword and return in time to keep Angela from being upset. If Mifune allowed her to go. For the past three years since she had fled from Death City, she had come to view Mifune as a surrogate father/older brother. He even went to the same lengths to protect her that he did with Angela. She rather liked the feeling.

When she returned to the house, she found three near Kishin souls floating around. Idiots had come to claim their souls again.

She waited until dinner before she broached the subject about the sword she had heard about with Mifune.

He looked at her sharply, before he surprised her.

"You can go. But you're only allowed to look for the sword. If I find out you've gotten yourself into trouble, you're on your own."

She grabbed her pack, and told her little sister that she would be back before breakfast...hopefully.

In exchange for going to Vegas, she was only allowed to stay for eight hour increments before flying back. She had already mastered flying her personal broom, since her hovering using shadows was stiff iffy at best. On the plus side, she never had to worry about crashing into the ground.

She had learned very quickly to cast the hover spell without chanting.

* * *

_Five hours later, over Las Vegas..._

She stared. It had been years since she had been in a city this size. The light twinkled like stars. She found a good place to land and descended.

It didn't take long however for her to get into trouble. Even when she wasn't actually doing anything.

A Meister and his weapon had seen her land, and knew her to be a witch. They had ninety-nine souls and were eager to get the last one required to become a Death Scythe.

The Witch's soul.

She managed to catch them off guard by blasting them with her soul wavelength. Even after three years, she remembered the lessons she had gone to at the Academy.

Once the meister was knocked out, she ran.

She had no idea someone watched her from the shadows.

Her breathing was ragged. While training with Mifune kept her body in top shape, she had almost forgotten how to run like her life depended on it. It had taken her too long to remember how to run in such a way that she could keep up the pace indefinitely.

She sensed someone walking up, and pivoted on her right heel. The man looked so out of place that she stared for a moment.

"Who are you and what do you want? If you're trying to kill me for your weapon, I will strike back," she warned.

He lifted his strange hat and looked her in the eyes. Something was wrong with him.

"How strange... I sense a great deal of fear from you, yet it's not coming from fighting with those two earlier..."

She blinked, and without warning he was in front of her. Her body refused to listen to her command, and she found herself with a katana in her hands.

Something had latched onto her soul, and was attempting to take control!

Realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She had come face-to-face with the sword she had gone looking for, and it was hungry for her soul!

She could feel his power trying to assert dominance over her body. But what the sword hadn't realized was that Pandora had experienced true fear once before. And had learned to overcome it.

No six year old child should ever fear their own family. Let alone their cousin.

And with the memory of her aunt coming at her with a iron club (Petunia was an Iron Club type weapon, as was her son) did something to her. Her fear was overcome by the feeling of rage and pain.

And just like that, she took control of the Enchanted Sword, and not the other way around. He was so startled by that fact that he was paralyzed. He had lost control of his ability to absorb her soul.

_'Now listen here, Enchanted Sword. I am the Witch Pandora, and I will not allow someone like you to claim my soul!'_ thought Pandora fiercely.

To that, the sword answered _"So you think you can claim me, little brat? Let's see who the owner is. I win, I get your soul. You win, you can claim me!"_

_'You have an agreement.'_

* * *

The world of the Enchanted Sword was a dismal place. Spindly shadows in the shape of souls. The moon was a pale shade of itself. And everywhere there was water.

Sitting on one of the shadow creatures was the Enchanted Sword, in his dark glory. He cast aside his hat, exposing a rather young man with worn eyes.

"I go by the name Pandora. What is your real name?"

"My name...is Masamune."

The two nodded to each other, and drew their swords. Pandora was very, very glad that Mifune had allowed her to move on to an actual sword.

The sound of blade clashing blade was heard in that empty world. Pandora didn't hesitate for a moment. She had learned quickly with the Dursleys that hesitation could kill you. The one time she had hesitated, Petunia had nearly brained her with a frying pan for not weeding the garden fast enough.

That had happened when she was three.

Masamune was very surprised to find Pandora a worthy opponent.

Then, when he left himself open for a fraction of a second, she struck.

He looked at her with clear shock as he coughed up blood. She had hit him in a vital spot. She narrowly had missed his lung.

"Kill me."

"Why?" she asked in return. It would only take swift twist to finish the deed.

"Because I don't deserve to live," he answered. He had lost any real reason to live after his sister inherited the family weaponry and all he got was a sword form that would hurt any partner he took.

Her cold heartless laughter at that response shook him to his core.

"You think you have any right to say whether you should live or die? You know nothing of what a real hell looks like. You merely play at being lost in a world full of light," she told him in a cold voice.

"How could a child like you know what hell is?" he asked. He was terrified of her answer.

"I read about you before, Masamune. You grew up in a house full of love and abandoned your family because they chose your sister to inherit over you. My family loathed and despised me. My own aunt, my flesh and blood, tried to kill me so her wretched son could get a Witch's soul. You have no reason to wish for death."

Shaken by such conviction and sensing that she spoke every word was truth, Masamune admitted defeat.

Pandora woke up in time to jump out of the way of a blade.

The meister that had attacked her was back. And he was furious that she had beaten him without magic.

He had thought her an easy kill, because she was barely ten.

She looked at her new sword. Masamune's soul had calmed down after she had beaten him. Then she looked at the man who wanted her death, simply because of what she was.

_'What do you say, Masamune? Shall we test our new partnership?'_

Startled by such a question, he matched his soul wavelength with hers easily. Her magic was so strong that he started to absorb that rather than her soul.

"You're going to die, you little Witch!" growled the meister.

"The only one who's going to walk away right now is you," she replied calmly.

She took a familiar stance, and waited for him to enter her kill zone. Mifune's voice came to mind as she stood there.

_Not all battles should be fought with your blood on fire with battlelust. Sometimes the best strategy is to let your opponent come to you, and entering your area. When he enters your kill zone, then you strike with your blade._

The man charged without thinking. Once he came in reach of her blade, she struck with precision. He cried out in pain as the back of her blade broke his rib. And then he coughed up blood as she struck him with her soul wavelength.

His partner changed from weapon mode, fury in his eyes. She gave him a cold look, and that rage died as quickly as it had begun.

"Go ahead (cough) finish me. That's all your kind ever do!" he coughed.

"Why should I bother wasting my time killing you when the humiliation is more than enough punishment for attacking me unprovoked?" she said in return.

"You're a Witch. I don't need any more reason than that to kill you."

"Wrong. DWMA regulations specifically state that the only Witches that are acceptable to attack or kill are those that attack you first. Or didn't Sid tell you about the communities that are around the world full of witches that have never harmed a human?" she said coldly.

He stared at her in shock.

"How would you know the regulations?" he demanded.

"I used to be a student. Why don't you ask Lord Death about Meister Aurora, before you attack people for no other reason than their genetic disposition?" she told him, and then got onto her broom.

"See you later, creep!" she called out.

* * *

Mifune stared at Masamune in disbelief. He hadn't expected her to find him so easily.

He listened to her account of the fight, and looked at her in approval. She had not only held her own against a skilled opponent, she had actually won the battle.

"You do realize what this means, don't you?"

The two looked at him.

"Now we'll have to work on your team work before either of you are allowed to go anywhere alone."

Angela of course, was delighted to have a new big brother around. Masamune sometimes even smiled at her childish antics, or stared in disbelief when his partner joined her. He found a silent friend in Mifune, mostly because the man was a master swordsman.

* * *

"_**Soul Resonance!"**_ they called out in unison.

Angela watched with childish wonder as Pandora's soul became marked with the power of the Enchanted Sword. Masamune was rather surprised to find that unless they were resonating, his ability to drain his partner's soul turned off. The markings on Pandora's face were not tribal like before, but rather impressive.

Though they mostly served to make her look like a cat. At the age of twelve, Pandora had become an accomplished swordswoman. Every day she either trained with Masamune and Mifune with her sword, or she practiced her magic with Angela.

By fourteen she had finally earned the right to join the Witch's Mass with her little sister.

While she was officially a Witch in the eyes of the DWMA, they didn't actually have a warrant out for her. Mostly because she never attacked humans or meisters without being attacked first.

Of course it baffled and confused the students that there was a Witch who was still considered a student of the Academy, whose primary reason for existing was killing her kind.

Then again, most of the Witches they ran into often harmed humans.

It wasn't until a meister came looking for trouble that she knew she would have to make a choice.

Either become a Witch permanently or return to Death City to become a student again.

Though if she ever ran into Black Star again she would whock him upside the head. If only for the headache he had given her.

Pandora was worried. If someone as dense as Black Star could find them, then who knew when someone with actual skill would come looking for them?

So she made a decision. Depending on how Death answered her, they would either move far away or...back to Death City.

* * *

"Let's see...what was the number again?"

Mifune had heard of her plan. While he wouldn't mind living in Death City, if she had to choose between Angela's safety and her own peace of mind, she would chose Angela every time.

He honestly could care less, as long as it meant Angela was safe.

"Oh yeah!"

"_42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's Door."_

Lord Death turned when he heard his mirror ring. And the person on the other end surprised him.

"Hello Meister Aurora. It's been a while."

"Hello Lord Death."

"I'm sorry about what happened back then. Had I known what your aunt was going to do I would have never allowed her or her son to come to Death City. I'm glad to hear that you're alright."

Pandora was nervous. She had tried very, very hard to forget the two over the years.

"Are...are they still there?"

"Right after your aunt attacked you I kicked them out. They won't be back again if I have any say in it."

Considering that he ruled the city, it would be very hard indeed to bring them back.

"So what's the occasion?"

"..."

"You do realize that you can always come back to the Academy. You weren't at fault for their actions."

"Even if I'm a Witch?"

"Your mother had that gene in her too, and she was still an excellent Meister. It wasn't her fault that she ran afoul of a Kishin without her weapon."

"My mother was a Witch too?"

"A rather brilliant one at that. She fell in love with you father after I sent her on an undercover mission in the magical communities, but she always kept in touch."

"Can I really come back? Even if I brought a fellow Witch with me?"

"Depends on the Witch, but I don't see any problems."

"I gain a little sister in the Witch Angela, and Mifune's always been nice to me."

"Is this the same Angela that Black Star decided to go after by any chance?"

"How do you know about that?" she asked with suspicion.

"I sent him there so he wouldn't get ahead of himself. I never expected him to actually _meet_ her."

"She wasn't too happy he hurt Mifune."

"I see no problem with Angela or Mifune living here, so long as they don't cause any trouble. And you are always welcome to return."

"I finally found a partner I can use."

"Really? What's their name?"

"Masamune."

Lord Death seemed very surprised to hear that. Last he heard, Masamune was still causing trouble, though it had gone down a bit in recent years.

"He's welcome to come too, though Tsubaki might have some issues with it."

* * *

"We're moving? To Death City?" said Angela with surprise.

"Only if you want to. You can prank that meany who beat up Mifune if you want."

"Let's go!" said Angela. She was all for pranking people.

Pandora had some awesome ideas when it came to pranks.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Mifune.

"I ran away once because of my family. Now that they're gone, I can finally go back. Besides, he said so long as Angela didn't cause problems they would leave her alone."

"Do I have to go?" whined Masamune. He really didn't want to deal with his sister.

"You're living with me, so man up," snapped Pandora.

Ever since she became a teenager (and had to deal with _that_ time of the month) she became a bit more aggressive. Every time the moon was new, Masamune would vanish for a week. Pandora would have to go and retrieve him.

Personally, if he could escape during the new moon Mifune would have joined him in a heartbeat.

Pandora was positively _evil_ to the boys whenever that time of the month rolled around. The only good thing about it was that she never took it out on Angela.

(It was rather amusing really. Pandora had yet to find anything to deal with the stomach cramps she always got, and it really annoyed her. None of the more mature witches would even help her with the problem.)

If Pandora, who was one of the sweetest and most polite girls he had ever met turned into an unholy pranking demon of hell every time she had cramps, then Mifune really, really dreaded what Angela would be like at that age.

He had never been more glad that Witches aged slower than mortals in his life.


	3. Chapter 3

Sid heard that a Meister was returning from training in the outside, and was eager to find out who.

So he was understandable surprised to see Aurora Potter show up at the Death Room...with a weapon, a Witch and a human in tow.

"It's good to see you again Aurora."

"Hello Lord Death," she said, bowing.

"I suppose this is the Witch Angela and the infamous bodyguard Mifune?"

Mifune was silent, though Angela was quick to climb on Aurora's shoulders and wave.

"And you must be the famous Enchanted Sword Masamune. Your sister has been looking for you for quite some time."

"She can keep looking. I don't want to deal with her pity," said Masamune annoyed.

He had come under protest, and he didn't care if anyone knew that.

"I suppose we should get you four settled in. There happens to be a house next to the Death Mansion which should suit your four nicely."

Mifune looked at him sharply. He could understand why Lord Death had them living next to the Death Mansion. It was to keep an eye just in case. Didn't mean he had to like it though.

Sid was a bit surprised. Then again, Aurora had never been normal even as a student.

She had spent most of her time in the library instead of in class.

"By the way...whatever happen to that idiot team who attacked me in Vegas?" she asked a little _too_ innocently.

"Hmm?"

"About four, five years ago a Meister and Weapon team were in Vegas and encountered a witch who defeated them without magic?" Sid reminded him.

"That was you? Funny, they never reported it to me," said Death.

"They reported it alright. If I remember you were more interested in the fact that the witch called herself Aurora."

"You may be right."

"So where are they now?"

"Right now they're on assignment in Europe. They're going to be there for a while," said Sid quickly.

"Pity, I was hoping to revenge prank them for attacking me."

Lord Death tried not to laugh. Trust Lily Evans' daughter to find the loophole in his set of rules.

He couldn't wait for the girl to meet her actual cousin.

Really, why Albus Dumbledore thought Lily Evans was directly related to Petunia he had no idea. At least Soul Eater Evans would be a good influence on the girl...or she would turn him into a bigger prankster than ever.

Either way it wouldn't be boring any more.

* * *

"Did you hear? One of the Meisters who left the Academy is returning!" said Ox.

"Who?" asked Maka.

"From what I hear, the infamous Aurora Potter is returning," said Tsubaki.

"Aurora? The biggest bookworm in the Academy is coming back?" asked Ox, annoyed.

"You know her?"

"She left without warning six years ago. I heard rumors her aunt tried to kill her and feed her soul to her son."

"Why?" asked Soul.

"I hear she's a witch and a Meister. Nothing was ever proven though."

"Everyone settle down. Now as I'm sure you've all heard, one of our meisters has decided to return from a solo training mission. Let's try not to overwhelm her on her first day back."

Aurora walked in, her head held high. She was done hiding. Beside her was the surly looking Masamune.

Tsubaki gasped in shock.

"This is Aurora Potter and her weapon Masamune. Give them both a warm welcome!" said Sid.

There were a few half hearted claps, but that was it. Soul was looking at her rather intently though.

"It can't be...I heard Aunt Lily's kid died..." said Soul quietly.

"You have an aunt?" asked Maka.

"Yeah. She was an awesome meister but she got caught without her weapon when a male Witch attacked her house. Last I heard she was killed with her husband and kid," said Soul.

"Aurora, Masamune, take a seat next to Soul and Tsubaki."

"I am not sitting next to my damn sister," growled Masamune.

"Then sit next to whitey or I'll snap at you. You haven't stopped complaining all bloody morning," she growled back.

"'Whitey'?" muttered Soul. Maka and Black Star tried not to laugh.

"So um...how did you meet my brother?" asked Tsubaki.

"He tried to take control of my soul, and I kicked his ass," she said bluntly.

Soul leaned back and asked calmly "So is your mom by any chance Lily Evans ne Potter?"

Aurora paused, then looked at him sharply.

"How the bloody hell do you know my mother?"

"Because the last I heard Aunt Lily was killed fighting a Kishin Witch."

"Wait..._Aunt_ Lily?" asked Black Star.

"You aren't the same cousin who tried to kill her are you?" asked Masamune with suspicion.

"It's not him, Masamune. Dudley was a bigger idiot than the one who attacked Angela two weeks ago. Not to mention he resembled a small pig. What type of weapon are you anyway?"

"Scythe."

Masamune relaxed. The one who had attacked his Meister was an Iron Club.

"So the rumor about why you left is true?" asked Ox.

"I remember you. You were that annoying boy who used to cry because I outdid you on every test," said Aurora grinning.

Ox winced.

Maka was grinning evilly however.

"You used to cry because a girl beat you on a test?"

"Not just _a_ test. Every test we had, I beat him at except for the practicals," Aurora informed her smirking.

Maka held out her hand.

"I'm Maka Alburn."

"Aurora Potter. Though you might recognize me as the Witch Pandora."

Maka didn't falter, nor did she seemed bothered by the fact Aurora was a witch. She was related to Soul, so that made her strictly off limits.

"And this is my surly weapon Masamune...though if you go missing again I will hit you harder than normal," she said without missing a beat.

She shook Maka's hand. Masamune winced. Pandora's chop usually involved a blade.

Black Star on the other hand, decided to be an idiot.

"I'm going to be the man that surpasses God!" he declared. Tsubaki sighed in exasperation.

"You're going to be _seeing_ God if you don't tone down your voice," growled Aurora.

Masamune looked at his sister in disbelief.

"This is your partner?"

She nodded miserably.

"Before I forget..." said Aurora, her grin positively evil.

_AURORA CHOP!_

Black Star was bleeding on the ground.

"That was for hurting Mifune, jerk."

"Did you just pull a wooden sword out of nowhere to hit him with?" asked Maka.

"Yes."

"I knew I was going to like you."

"Why? Because she has a chest bigger than yours?" quipped Soul.

An angry twitch appeared on Maka's head.

_MAKA CHOP!_

"Did you just use a hardcover book on Whitey?"

"Yup."

* * *

Maka and Aurora got along like fire. It didn't hurt that they used blunt objects to keep their unruly weapons in line.

Of course Aurora was quite miffed Death never mentioned that Petunia wasn't her aunt in the first place. Or that she had a cousin named Soul Eater.

Fortunately Lord Death was willing to overlook the fact she hit Black Star with a wooden sword...provided she didn't attack him for never revealing that fact.

"To be honest I had completely forgotten that Lily was adopted into that family until Soul came to the school. And I couldn't contact you because I didn't know where you were all this time."

And that was that. Soul was rather eager to learn more about his missing cousin, even if she did have Witch's blood in her.

Though Black Star didn't really like her because of one simple fact.

Both Aurora and Angela kept pranking him for the time he attacked Mifune. Eventually though, he managed to get on their good side and the pranks stopped.

Tension was still high between Masamune and Tsubaki though.

"So why did you come back anyway?" asked Soul.

"I heard Mifune was attacked by other souls, so I thought it was high time to move. Especially if someone as dense as Black Star could find us. Besides, as long as we live in Death City, the meisters aren't allowed to attack either of us," said Aurora.

"Did you really take out a team without using magic or a weapon?" asked Black Star.

"Hey, they attacked me for no reason. I was defending myself. It was just fate that I happened to finally find my partner that day," said Aurora.

An idea came to mind, and she liked it so much that she decided to go for it.

"Say Soul, Tsubaki, you guys wanna spar later?"

"Oh?" said Soul.

"Spar? You think you can take on someone as big as me?" asked Black Star.

"You I could take out with my eyes closed, so can it brat. However Soul and Maka might prove to be interesting sparring partners. I'm a little too used to fighting Mifune and Masamune that it's not really a challenge anymore," said Aurora.

Maka's dad appeared then, and as always he was annoying.

"Lord Death wants to see you."

"Now what?" asked Aurora.

* * *

"Remedial Lessons?" cried Maka.

"I can get why Black Star and Tsubaki need them, but why were we called?" asked Aurora.

Musamune was currently tied up. It was new moon, which meant Aurora would come after any male who annoyed her.

Thankfully, at the moment that was Black Star.

"Since you just returned, this should be a good chance for you to get back in the swing of things," said Death.

"But Masamune has already eaten fifty Kishin eggs."

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"Hah?" said Maka.

"What? I'm a Witch remember? You think you guys are the only who comes after our souls? Mifune always had me on guard duty whenever someone with a kishin egg came by after I found Masamune."

"You...didn't even need to track your prey?" asked Maka.

"Why bother? If I wasn't training my magic or with Masamune and Mifune, then I was pulling guard duty with a book to read."

"That is so not fair..." complained Soul.

"What?"

"That does it, We're pairing up with your team next time we go out," said Soul.

"So why are you two taking these lessons?"

"We...screwed up on the last soul. Turned out to be a cat with magic..." mumbled Soul.

"Let me guess. Blair, right?" smirked Aurora.

"How did you...?"

"She writes me occasionally," shrugged Aurora.

"So what's this lesson?" asked Masamune.

"The zombie of one of our former teachers is running amok. I want you to take care of it."

"Great..." said Masamune.

As they walked out of the room, Maka noted something. Aurora seemed to be wincing.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"New moon. If I had any say I would be running for the hills," answered Masamune.

Aurora glared at him.

"Stomach cramps. Nothing I've tried has helped."

Maka winced.

"That time? Hey Soul, Masamune, how about we meet you there?"

Soul took one look at Maka, realized what she meant and flinched.

"I really don't want to be dragged into _that_ talk... Let's get out of her Masamune."

"Thank kami..."

* * *

Maka took Aurora to her place, which was surprisingly well kept.

And handed her something to take the pain off.

"These should help the cramps."

"Thank god. I don't know how the other girls deal with this nonsense."

"What do you usually do?"

"Prank the boys without stopping until it's over. Planning the pranks usually takes my mind off the pain," she shrugged.

"..."

"Of course Masamune actually has a calender in his room and he ticks off the days before new moon, so he can run two days early...the wimp."

Maka looked at the girl, hard, before she started to laugh evilly.

* * *

_Near the graveyard..._

"Did you just get a chill go down you spine?" asked Soul.

"It's the Pandora Effect. Get used to it," said Masamune.

Soul twitched.

"Pandora Effect...?"

"Your meister has probably gone to the Chaos Side...which means you'll be pranked rather hard whenever _that_ time comes around. Prepare to go through hell," replied Masamune bluntly.

Soul twitched even more.

Masamune looked at his meister with surprise. For once, he didn't have a sense of foreboding doom.

"What did you do to her? I don't feel the need to run for my life," he asked Maka.

"I gave her something to help with the pain," answered Maka.

Soul started twitching again.

"Soul, what's up with your eye?" asked Black Star.

"Pandora Effect. He just realized how screwed he is," answered Masamune.

"What's the 'Pandora Effect'?"

"It's what Mifune and Masamune referred to the times when I become an unholy pranking demon of hell bent on making their lives miserable. It generally tends to spread outward until men cry like babies and run for their lives," answered Aurora. She started to whistling cheerfully.

Masamune twitched...and elsewhere Mifune winced.

"Then again if someone annoys me greatly before those times hit, they usually get spared and the person who angered me usually gets taken down fifteen pegs...at least."

"You do not want to be around Pandora whenever the new moon is in the sky," said Masamune.

"Let's get this lesson over with."

* * *

Sid jumped out of the ground. Only to find Aurora waiting for him.

"Chaos Blast!"

He grunted with pain from the blast. A witch's soul tended to cause more damage to meisters and weapons than normal souls if used directly.

He swung his tombstone at her, only to be countered by her sword. Masamune was waiting for her to call on him.

Her smirked grew when he found himself pinned by Soul and Black Star.

"Masamune, Witch Sword mode!"

"Right."

Tsubaki turned when she heard that name. She knew that the only weapon form Masamune had inherited was the Enchanted Sword.

So where did he pick up a second form?

She stared outright when Masamune split into two very odd swords.

They had blades at each end, as if she had connected two katanas by the bottom of their hilt. They were all black as night and just as sharp. Aurora held the double swords with ease.

"What's this Witch Sword?" asked Black Star finally.

"Witch Sword. A technique in which I create three alternate doppelganger forms of Masamune and connect them. It initially comes out as two swords connected together, but I can put all four as one big blade, similar to a shuriken or the way a helicopter spins. Of course it's rather hard to keep this up in conjunction with the Enchanted Sword mode."

Here Aurora smirked evilly.

"Of course I have never actually used this in a battle before. Should be fun!"

It didn't take long for Aurora to have Sid on the run. Her skills were far above Maka and Black Star.

Then again, they weren't used to fighting for their lives.


	4. Chapter 4

Aurora didn't like this. According to Sid, the one who turned him into a zombie was the one known as Franken Stein.

"Oh bloody hell. We have to deal with _that_ guy?" said Aurora.

"You know about him?" asked Maka.

"The guy is a dissection otaku. And he's completely _nuts_. He's also extremely strong."

"Where did you learn that information?" asked Soul.

"Back when Petunia bloody Dursley was my guardian, I used to spend hours upon hours in the library. Did you know they keep all the school records in there? You just have to ask about them and you can get access. Well, as long as the student has already graduated in the past five years."

"Actually...that is true. All records become public after five years..." admitted Sid.

"So where does this Franken Stein live?"

"It's not exactly hard to miss," said Aurora dryly.

"Huh?"

* * *

Maka stared. Aurora hadn't been kidding.

"Why did he put stitches on the outside of his house?" asked Soul.

"I told you, he's a dissection nut. He loves taking things apart and putting them together in different ways," said Aurora.

"Can we get this over with? I would like to sleep sometime tonight you know," said Masamune.

"Agreed," said Aurora.

The sounds of wheels was heard. Aurora grinned. She had seen this little joke a few times and it was still funny.

The door opened...and Stein's rolling chair fell over the indent at the door. He tried again. And still couldn't get over it.

"Did it ever occur to him to remove that small bar under the door?" asked Masamune.

"And ruin the entertainment? No way!"

Aurora allowed Soul and the others to fight, and only occasionally blocked a blow or two.

It wasn't until Stein _finally_ remembered there were supposed to be three pairs of Meisters/Weapons that he was to test that he focused solely on her.

Only to find her hand right at his solar plexus delivering a rather painful blow, complete with her soul wavelength. He winced from pain, but made no outward sign that he felt it.

Aurora seemed to dance around him with ease, and she never used her partner to block his blows.

Every time he went to hit her with his wavelength, she blocked it with her own.

It seemed that like him, Aurora had a soul that could match almost any partner. And she was able to manipulate it as freely as he could.

The only downside was that she took too long to do it.

Finally, he landed a rather painful blow to her side. She yelped...and then did a perfect back flip towards her partner.

"Time to get serious. Masamune, Double Enchanted Sword mode!"

"Right."

Masamune vanished in a blur of green energy, turning into two swords. Tsubaki was still surprised he had found a way to do that. Then again, his partner _was_ a Witch.

Aurora put the two swords together with their hilts, and began to twirl him like a staff. Stein tried several times to block the blades, but he got sliced up. The cuts were rather small, but they were still painful.

So he tried another tactic.

He went after Soul. He had read her profile, and found that Aurora took her family and friends seriously. She would never allow them to be hurt if she could prevent it, even if she didn't like them.

Well, except for the Dursley family, but that was the only exception.

Aurora didn't disappoint him. She vanished, only to reappear in front of his blow. Soul was very surprised at her speed.

"That does it. If you think I'll let your little stunt go unpunished, you have another thing coming."

She looked at her double sword, and Masamune understood. He reappeared as a human, and got the two out of her way.

"_Pan pan Pandorian Pandemonium! Chaos Breaker!"_

Stein coughed up blood as she hit him with her full wavelength. Her power was definitely too strong for him to take on without a weapon and not come out half dead.

The only thing he could think of was _I'm glad she doesn't like to kill humans...she could be a powerful opponent._

After thirty more minutes of toying with them (and avoiding Aurora's attacks) he told them that they had passed the remedial lessons.

Naturally, Maka and the others were surprised to find out that it had been a test. Only Aurora and Masamune were unsurprised.

Aurora knew about Lord Death's sense of humor after all.

* * *

"So Lord Death's son is coming to the Academy?" asked Aurora.

"At his own request apparently," said Maka.

"Huh. I wonder if Patty and Liz are coming too," asked Aurora.

"You know this guy?" asked Tsubaki.

"Sort of. He's my neighbor. Angela likes to go over and play with Patty while Mifune shops. Of course he usually has to go and pick her up. He said the kid had some weird form of OCD."

"Where are Soul and the loud annoying one?" asked Masamune.

Masamune refused to call Black Star by his name. Until the kid proved to be a decent meister, he would continue to call him the loud annoying one.

"I think they had the _brilliant _idea of challenging Death the Kid," said Aurora from behind her book.

Aurora had become easier to live with since Maka told her where to find the medicine she had given her on the new moon. Masamune no longer felt the need to run for his life.

On the downside, Maka had taken to asking Aurora for advice on pranking Soul.

It seemed like every other day Soul would find red hot peppers in his food or eat something that changed his white hair pink.

Aurora seemed to have found her spot at the Academy.

Though she was a bit surprised that a week after fighting Stein, she had been upgraded to Second Star Meister by Lord Death. Why, she had no idea, but she wasn't complaining.

"Check it out, Soul and Black Star are fighting the new guy," said one of the students.

"And now we have to go deal with them... I'll meet you outside Maka," sighed Aurora.

Maka nodded.

Death the Kid was busy fighting Soul and Black Star when _she_ appeared. He had gotten a good glimpse of her before, mostly through his bedroom window and once through his father's mirror.

And he had been trying to fight the blush that threatened to creep up every time he saw her.

It was simple really. He had based his entire life on symmetry. Everything had to be in absolutely perfect balance, even his weapons.

And Aurora Potter was in perfect balance. She was a meister and a witch, she wielded two swords that were both light and dark, and her hair was perfectly braided on both sides.

In short, Kid was in love with a girl he didn't even know aside from the reports he read.

Everything about her was a balance of light and dark.

Aurora's eyes met with Kid's, and she had to admit she was intrigued by the son of Lord Death. She had never met someone who shared the same jewel-like quality in their eyes before. Instead of greeting him properly, she sat back and watched the show. It would be entertaining if nothing else.

* * *

Aurora stepped out of the small house early. She had agreed to show Kid around the school when Lord Death asked her. Of course that meant Masamune would be sleeping in, but she didn't mind.

Patty and Liz would get the tour from him anyway, and she knew from Angela that they liked to sleep in too.

Kid was waiting for her, though she could tell he was trying to hide something.

Was that...a blush? Why was he blushing?

It was like the early days at the Academy all over again, only this time her cousin wasn't about to kill her.

_Fast Forward to the end of the tour..._

"And this is the library."

"Thanks for the tour, Aurora."

Aurora looked him in the eye, slightly annoyed.

"Alright, why do you keep blushing around me?"

(Yes, Aurora is _that_ oblivious about her looks.)

Kid realized she had noticed, and blushed even harder.

"Well...it's because..."

"Because what?" she demanded.

It was that then that Patty and Liz appeared with a yawning Masamune.

"Woah...is Kid blushing?" asked Liz in surprise.

"What did you do to him?"

"That is what _I_ would love to know as well," said Aurora, glaring.

"He probably noticed your looks. Frankly I'm surprised more boys don't blush around you," yawned Masamune.

"Hah?"

Liz and Patty looked at him in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"The only female influence she's had up till now was Angela. She's completely oblivious about her looks and getting ready in the morning aside from brushing her hair."

That simply wouldn't do, so once the school day ended, Liz dragged Aurora, Maka and Tsubaki on a girl's day out while Soul, Kid, and Black Star stared and wondered what the hell just happened.

The next morning was rather interesting, as the boys couldn't stop staring at Aurora and Maka. It was rather irritating to the girls, who honestly had no idea why they boys couldn't keep their eyes off them.

Aurora was in a sleeveless black and silver halter top, with strings holding up the shirt around her neck. Her hair was in a simple pigtail (courtesy of Angela who loved to braid her hair), and had ribbons threaded through it. Her skirt was a dark blue with stars on the edge. Her new shoes were open toed, and built for moving at high speeds.

Liz had bullied the girl into getting contacts, which meant her emerald green eyes were no longer hidden behind the dorky looking glasses she used to own.

So yes, the boys were rather taken aback by the sudden change, and a few had to ask who she was when they saw her out of shock.

Maka had also undergone a rather startling transformation.

Gone was her bulky coat, as she was now wearing a form fitting sleeveless top, with knee length blue jeans and new sneakers. Soul had noted the change, because he was having trouble trying not to stare.

For once, Maka actually _looked_ like a girl, even though she wasn't wearing her usual outfit.

Aurora noted with interest that her favorite cousin was trying not to blush around his meister.

He was so getting teased later.

* * *

"So we're going to Italy for an Extracurricular lesson? Sounds like fun."

"How are you getting there?" asked Soul.

"Broom. You?"

"Plane. How does Masamune stand flying on that stick of yours?" asked Soul.

"He doesn't. He stays in weapon form until we land. Knowing him he'll just take a nap until we get close."

"Want to join us in seeing the sights?"

"Sure!"

"Soul, we're going there for a lesson, we don't have time to sight see!"

"Oh come on Maka! How often do we get to go to Italy? It's not like your target is going to be around during the day anyway!" protested Aurora.

"But..."

"Lighten up Maka. If you're really that against it, why not gather information with Masamune?" suggested Aurora.

Maka could agree to that, if only to keep from hearing Soul whine.

"Alright, so we'll work in shifts. Soul and I will go sight seeing for four hours, and then Maka and Masamune will switch places with us until nightfall. Sound fair?"

Even Maka had to agree it was more than fair. This way the two groups would be able to gather information and enjoy themselves.

"Alright then, Team Jaws is off!" said Aurora.

Masamune twitched.

"Team...Jaws?"

"Soul is Jaws. Don't tell me you didn't see the resemblance," she quipped.

"Har har. Just try not to cause any trouble."

* * *

"So who's this Jaws person?" asked Soul at the quaint corner cafe.

"Jaws, as in the movie? You remind me of the shark, only you don't eat everyone in your path."

"Oh yeah, I think I've seen that one. Wait, you think I'm a shark?"

"White hair, sharp pointy teeth and the ability to eat practically anything?" she pointed out.

"If I'm Jaws then who are you?"

"Hmm. Perhaps your nickname should be Shark Boy and Maka is Lava Girl."

"I'm not a shark!"

"Could have fooled me."

"And anyway don't those two end up dating later on?" he complained.

"Like I didn't see you blushing around Maka after that shopping trip," she countered.

"This coming from the girl who managed to capture the attention of over seventy five percent of the males?" said Soul.

"Huh?"

"You mean you didn't know? Over half the boys in class have a crush on you. If they thought they had a chance they would have tried to get a date with you."

Aurora's blank look had him in disbelief.

"You really didn't notice."

"Why would they have a crush on me? This is like being around Dudley all over again."

"What do you mean?"

"People kept asking that fat tub of lard to introduce them to me," she clarified.

Soul stared at her.

"Boys have been after you since you were six?"

"I have no idea why though."

Soul couldn't believe that one of the smartest girls in the class was _that_ oblivious.

"You mean to tell me that you never noticed?" asked Soul.

"Noticed what?"

"You happen to be one of the best looking girls in the class. Even Tsubaki is ranked below you."

"There's a class ranking for girls?"

"If I show you, promise not to show Maka?"

"Deal."

Soul reached into his jacket, and brought out a long scroll of paper.

_Ranks of Females in DWMA Weapon/Meister:_

_Aurora Potter_

_Tsubaki_

_Liz Thompson_

_Patty Thompson_

_Maka Alburn_

Aurora stared in shock.

"I'm the number one girl in DWMA?"

"Yeah. The fact that you're a Witch hasn't even factored in this. Plus you have the best brains in the class, right next to Maka."

"I can't believe it."

Aurora looked at her watch.

"Time to swap with Maka and Masamune."

Suddenly an evil idea came to her.

"What are you up to? And don't try hiding it, I recognize that evil look in your eyes."

"I was just thinking... If the boys really are after me, then why not do a double date? Me with whoever gets the courage up to ask and you with Maka."

Soul choked on his water.

"You gotta be kidding! Death Scythe would kick my ass!"

"He would have to go through me first," said Aurora, grinning.

Maka and Masamune relaxed for a few hours, enjoying the sights and discussing books. Aurora had managed to get her weapon more interested in reading for pleasure.


	5. Chapter 5

Aurora raced to the castle like structure. She had felt the presence of an old friend...who was absolutely _terrified_ of her. The problem was that it felt like Chrona was clashing with Soul.

Which was bad news, since Chrona and Ragnarok were roughly at the same level she was. If not slightly below her.

She broke the door without thinking, and heard Maka cry out in horror. Soul had been cut rather badly.

"CHRONA! Leave my cousin alone dammit!" she roared.

Chrona at first didn't recognize her. That is, until she switched from Aurora to Pandora.

_Pan Pan Pandorian Pandemonium! Phoenix Bell!_

The large bell above the building began to sound, only the tone was off. It almost sounded like a bird's song.

Pandora focused the healing power of the phoenix song onto Soul, and he gasped for air. The wound stitched itself up, but it wasn't healed by a long shot.

Chrona took one look at the dark mass around the weapon he just beat, and then at the girl before him. The reaction was instantaneous.

It had started as a whimper of fear before it eventually turned into him curled up in a ball trying to avoid her attention.

Witch Pandora was by far more terrifying than Medusa or Ragnarok combined. And it didn't help that Pandora would bribe Ragnarok to help her.

Maka stared at Chrona, then at Pandora.

"Could you explain please?"

"He's more terrified of me in a foul mood than he is of his handler?" she replied.

Pandora turned to Chrona, an evil glint in her eyes.

"Chrona, Ragnarok, if you leave now I won't come after you with the new moon pranks..." she said quietly.

Maka had never seen someone run so fast in her life.

Spirit and Stein arrived seconds later, looked around and finally asked "Where's the Demon Sword?"

Maka pointed at Pandora, who was grinning evilly.

"Chrona knows very well not to piss me off. He's lucky I didn't feel like beating him up for what he did to my cousin."

Stein looked at her hard, "Should I be worried?"

"Only if you don't treat Soul fast enough. My magic won't hold that wound closed forever, and there's a chance he might be bleeding internally."

"Right. Time to go."

It took Soul an entire week to finally be freed from the infirmary. Of course Aurora visited him every day with Maka.

What the girl didn't tell Maka was that the school nurse...was a Witch. And not a friendly one like Angela and Pandora, but one of the most Evil Witches alive.

Medusa, the Snake Queen.

Strangely enough, Medusa actually _liked_ the girl, if only because she could Snake Speak. Apparently she had inherited some weird magical ability from her father's side of the family that allowed her to speak to snakes.

As long as it kept Medusa from sending Chrona after her, she wasn't complaining.

* * *

"So is the rumor that Kid and Black Star going after Excalibur true?" she asked Stein.

"Apparently. Why?"

She snickered evilly.

"Because they're a pair of idiots to want to even _look_ for that narcissist?"

"How do you know he's a narcissist?" he asked in return.

"He wrote the book about himself. Do I really need to explain more?"

"Point."

"Reminds me of the time I tricked that fat ass Dudley into fighting him."

"How and why did you do that?"

"He was acting like an ass, so I told him that if he beat Excalibur he could graduate early. Dumbass actually fell for it. If I remember right Excalibur actually sent a note of complaint to Lord Death about it. That was roughly a month or two before I ran from the Academy."

Stein looked at her, finished his book, then went to see if that was actually true.

(It was. Excalibur was rather put off that such a boy had come to see him and had attacked him for no apparent reason he could see.)

Two hours later the missing meisters returned, and both looked rather annoyed when Aurora laughed at them. Hard.

* * *

Kid was fidgeting, which was somewhat unusual. It wasn't his 'I suspect something is off balance in my house' twitch nor was it his 'I think someone is about to use the number seven' twitch. No, this was a twitch that was completely unrelated to his rather...unique case of OCD.

He fully blamed Liz and Patty for it too, since it was their fault he was currently trying to find a way to ask the prettiest girl in the school out on a date.

Aurora Potter, once she got over the shock that almost every boy in the school viewed her as an attractive girl, had been completely caught off guard when 'open season' had been declared to ask her out.

Soul, once he had finally woken up, had found it hilarious. And gotten a double Chop to the head, courtesy of his cousin and his meister.

There was really one catch to actually managing to get a date with her.

They had to prove themselves worthy to her weapon first, since after all who knew her better than her weapon?

That little snag had proven to be a barrier few of the boys could get across. Maka had approved of the approach, since a few of her would be suitors had a difficult time getting over her looks and actually trying to get to know her.

On the plus side, Kid had already managed to get past that barrier simply by talking to Aurora like a normal person. He honestly could care less that she was a Witch. The only problem was that he had no idea what to do on a date, and there was no chance he was going to ask his father.

(Mostly because there was a very good chance Death would have Spirit give him the Talk, which was something he would rather not deal with.)

So, in a rare moment of absolute inspiration, Kid did the only thing he could do.

He asked Soul and Maka for help.

(In his small circle of friends, Soul and Maka were by far the most stable ones he knew. Black Star would have been a bigger headache to deal with.)

It was with some surprise that he found Soul actually in the apartment. Maka had left early to do some book shopping with Aurora.

"Hey Kid, what's up?"

And so Kid asked. Soul stared at him with surprise for about three seconds before he let him in.

"First off, you've been going in the right direction if you're trying to date my cousin. Aurora isn't exactly the sharpest person around when it comes to interacting with guys who are interested in her. Plus the fact that you haven't treated her differently because of her powers is a big plus for you. But if you want to go out with her, you're going to have to get over the blushing problem."

Kid blanched. He had noticed that?

"You aren't exactly subtle whenever you're around her. You practically light up like a tomato if you're talking to her without Masamune around."

Was he that obvious?

"Fortunately for you, Aurora is rather oblivious to that fact or she has decided to ignore it."

"Is there anything I _can_ do right now?"

Soul grinned, shark like. Kid could suddenly see why Aurora had taken to calling her cousin Sharky.

"You could always ask her out on a date. She's pretty much told me that if anyone was brave enough to finally _ask_ her she would accept."

By the time Kid left, he had to find a way to gather enough courage to ask Aurora out. He knew Patty and Liz would be completely useless, if anything they would just tease him.

Passing by a flower shop, he paused.

What did he have to lose?

* * *

Aurora stared at Kid in surprise when he actually managed to get her alone and finally asked her out. The flowers were rather tasteful (and perfectly symmetrical, naturally) and she accepted them. She fought and failed to hide her blush.

"Okay."

Kid released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.

"Next Sunday then?" he said.

She nodded.

Maka of course, stared at the flowers in Aurora's hands, since they definitely hadn't been there an hour ago.

"Where did you...?"

"Kid asked me out."

Maka's jaws dropped. Then a glint came into her eyes.

"You know what this means don't you?"

Aurora gulped. She could tolerate shopping to a point, but buying new clothes was always scary with other girls around. They were like sharks on blood.

"Eep!"

* * *

Kid was waiting patiently for Aurora. It had taken the combined efforts of Liz, Patty and the little Witch Angela to get him out of the house early with the threat that if he tried to return early they would completely destroy the symmetry of both the house and the DWMA.

And that was more than enough to get him out of the house without worrying about the balance.

He heard footsteps behind him, and when he turned he tried not to gape. He (sorta) succeeded.

Aurora had been turned into a living dress up doll for Maka, Tsubaki and the Thompson sisters. Angela had, once again, braided her hair. The little girl was quite adept at it.

Her outfit was mostly white and black. Much to his surprise, his date was completely symmetrical...and the complete opposite of his own coloring. Where his outfit was black, hers was white.

It was a nice balance of opposites.

Kid blushed when she took his hand, and they walked to the restaurant she had found.

Lord Death watched his son's first date with amusement. Mostly because the two had a few stalkers watching them.

Maka and Soul decided to go on a date of their own, to Spirit's horror. Liz and Patty were chatting with Masamune, to his disbelief. All of them were subtly watching Kid and Aurora.

Of course Aurora was well aware of their watchers. What they didn't realize was that she had sent a discreet hex their way, and that their hair was now completely neon pink in color.

It wasn't until Soul went to the bathroom that he realized what Aurora had done. It didn't take long for the word to pass around, and the watchers went away from the table.

Death had to give Spirit a Reaper Chop to keep him from interrupting the date. The man really, really didn't want his daughter to have a boyfriend.

By the time the date was over, Aurora shocked Kid completely with a light kiss on the cheek. Liz and Patty had to drag him inside, to the amusement of Masamune.

All in all, it was a successful night, in more ways than one.

* * *

It was with a sense of disbelief that people realized Death the Kid had somehow managed to grab Aurora Potter as a girlfriend. And that Soul and Maka had finally decided to become a couple.

Not that Spirit was going to allow that if he could help it. Every time he tried to drag his daughter into a date with him, Aurora scared him away.

Plus there was the time Aurora turned Spirit into a rather adorable teddy bear plushie, to the man's horror.

After the fifth time Spirit tried to interrupt their date, Aurora gained an evil gleam in her eyes. She was going to prank the Death Scythe.

Lord Death, when he realized what a prankster Aurora was, told her to only unleash her evil on the city if someone really, really deserved it. In order to keep the peace between her victims and the older meisters, he had created a self updating paper that was posted along with the jobs that were available.

It was called _'The List'_ and anyone who managed to get on it knew they were doomed. Fortunately, very few people annoyed Aurora enough for her to write their names and the offenses they committed to put them on there. A few were on their permanently, but they were no where near Death City so it was a mute point.

And now Spirit had managed to get himself on the top of the List. He, unfortunately for him, never noticed this fact. Maka, however did.

Which was why she was waiting with Soul, Aurora, Angela and Kid for Spirit to walk by.

He did, less than four minutes after they got into position.

"ATTACK!"

Spirit found himself bombarded with hundreds of balloons, all filled with random potions or paints.

By the time it was over, he looked like someone had thrown him in a vat of rainbows and had become a girl. He promptly fainted.

The potions refused to wear off for a week. Even then, Spirit found himself facing an irate Aurora armed with random things like paintball guns and water balloons filled with bright paints that took hours to get out.

Eventually Aurora took him off the List, and Spirit could breathe easier. Though it took a month for him to return to being a guy, to his horror.

* * *

"So let me get this straight. You expect me to go to London with the others in a joint lesson _why_?" Aurora demanded.

Lord Death winced. He had completely forgotten that Aurora was still being hunted in England.

"It will be good training for you," he said sheepishly.

"If anything happens I am so blaming you. Am I allowed to remove the restrictions on my magical powers?"

Lord Death winced even more. If she ran into the Dursley family it would be a bloodbath. Masamune wasn't happy about how his meister had been treated, and was fiercely protective of her. He didn't mind Death the Kid dating her, mostly because he knew full well the boy wouldn't try anything.

Liz and Patty would kill Kid before Masamune ever had a chance to.

"Very well. But only if the situation absolutely warrants such a thing. There _is_ one thing I should probably warn you about..."

Aurora looked at him.

"In Europe, you must do your best to avoid the Wizards at all costs. There is a man named Albus Dumbledore, and he has been looking for you for quite some time now. He might do anything to retrieve you and erase all of your memories of the Academy," said Death.

"Is he...the one?"

"Yes. He was the one who left you at the Dursley house. He runs a school for wizards in Scotland called Hogwarts. Unlike the DWMA, they don't take measures in keeping the balance between good and evil. If anything they seem to aggravate the balance by promoting what is called 'blood purity'. Cousins will marry cousins to insure that their blood remains 'pure', which only brings more problems. People like your mother, born a first generation Witch, tend to get shunted to the sidelines or mistreated."

"And he seriously expects me to fight for him?" asked Aurora in disbelief.

"Albus Dumbledore is a man who has somehow deluded himself with the idea that everything he does is for the greater good. Ever since he killed Grindlewald in the second world war, the man has become determined not to get his own hands dirty when it comes to taking out the bad eggs. He most likely sent you to that house so that you would become his weapon against the one called Voldemort."

Aurora scoffed.

"Should Dumbledore confront you, under no circumstances are you to go with him. I've managed to keep you from being dragged into that world against your will by keeping you on the Academy rosters. That kept their letters from finding you. However, once in England you must try to avoid becoming Pandora if you can. It would only serve to alert him to your presence."

"No restrictions on using Masamune to cause untold amounts of bloodshed then?" she asked hopefully.

"That I will agree to. I give you full permission to use his Enchanted Sword mode and whatever unholy concoctions you have come up with over the years provided you don't unleash Pandora."

"...Fair enough. And it'll give me a better work out than normal."

* * *

"So is there a reason you two are acting like cats and dogs?" asked Aurora randomly.

"Stein had us doing some weird exercise because she asked for it," said Soul.

"...And it never occurred to you that the only reason he's still sane is because he keeps tightening that loose screw in his head?" she asked deadpan.

Soul snickered.

"So why are you carrying around your extra swords today?" asked Maka.

Aurora looked at her and deadpanned "I was born and mostly raised in England back before I moved to Death City. I don't exactly have any good memories of the place, and if I run into..._them_ I would like to be prepared to cause massive damage without using my magic. Besides, Lord Death told me I would have no restrictions on using my soul resonance in England so long as I didn't let Pandora out."

"I've been meaning to ask, but why _do_ you call your Witch side Pandora?" asked Tsubaki.

"It was the only thing Angela could call me, seeing as how Aurora was a bit hard for her at the time. The name just stuck, plus it helped to separate the powers I was training at the time. Multiple Personality Disorder is the _least_ of my psychological problems at this point," shrugged Aurora.

"Lord Death gave you a carte blanche to unleash you soul resonance?"

"No holds barred on regular techniques, but I'm not supposed to use magic unless absolutely necessary. Something about attracting the wrong sort of attention."

"Right. Let's get this over with before you get any evil ideas that you would like to inflict on us," responded Masamune.


	6. Chapter 6

Albus Dumbledore was not a happy man. Not only did he abruptly lose his Golden Girl to Lord Death, but the Shinigami had personally prevented him from drafting the girl in the war by keeping her in the Academy rosters.

Even with the occasional blip of her magic, it was clear that Aurora Potter was being trained by someone who wasn't loyal to him alone.

And that simply wouldn't do at all.

So when he looked at the tracking charm that Death failed to note, and saw that the girl had _finally_ come back to England, he barely kept from doing a happy dance. It was time to retrieve his pawn, and make her pay for evading him for all these years.

Still, he couldn't move during the winter months, especially after Tom had returned.

So he sent Snape in his stead.

* * *

"Black Star, shut the hell up," said Aurora annoyed.

"Aren't you cold Aurora?" asked Soul.

"I was born here, remember? Let's get this dumb lesson over with so I never have to come back to England," growled Aurora.

Aurora gave Maka a look.

"You're the one with the best Soul Sight. Find our souls so we can go home already," said Aurora.

Maka ignored the cranky attitude the girl had. They all knew the girl never wanted to come with them, but Death had insisted.

Maka gasped. There was an unusual soul right in front of them.

Aurora took one look at the man before them and grimaced.

"Who the bloody hell let you out?" she asked.

Maka and the others looked at her.

"You know him?"

"The Immortal Wolf Man, also known as the Man with the Magic Eye. He's the one who stole the Grand Witch's left eye over two hundred years ago."

That got their attention.

"We need to deal with him fast," said Aurora.

Black Star grinned. Time for him to shine again!

Before he could do any damage, his soul wavelength went out all at once.

Stein had had him doing some weird exercises for the past week, which involved him sticking his hand into a weird looking jar that sucked his soul out. Black Star and Tsubaki had been developing a new technique which strained Black Star's soul.

Like Aurora had pointed out to them, the techniques they used had to be developed by someone, so why not make their own?

Apparently the way she had said it, combined with how Maka and Soul had been acting recently, had caused a bit of a problem. Maka was having real difficulty in holding Soul. Her hands looked burnt from his handle.

It wasn't until Aurora brought out Masamune that she felt someone else appear. Someone with the soul of a wizard.

(Had to be a wizard, since she was well aware of what a Witch felt like, and while this had the clear tang of magic it wasn't Witchy at all.)

She looked around, and finally her eyes rested on a man with a dour look.

"Everyone, heads up! There's a wizard around!" she shouted, as she charged at the werewolf.

The man looked shocked as she cleanly sliced the werewolf's hand off. Not that it mattered, it would grow back eventually.

"Masamune, soul resonance now!"

_'Got it.'_

In less than a minute, their souls resonated. His Enchanted Sword mode kicked in, and her power was boosted. Maka and Soul were attempting to remember how to work together, but it was doubtful they would be able to pull it off in the middle of a fight like this.

Aurora summoned her extra sword, and began to twirl her double blade with practiced ease. If the wizard thought he was going to take her back, she would make him fight for every inch.

The werewolf started to use magic, and if it wasn't for the agreement with Lord Death she would have countered it with hers. Contrary to popular belief among her fellow Witches, Pandora was highly adept at attack spells.

She just focused on healing and shield spells because they were much harder for her, and by learning something she wasn't good at first it would make learningshe _was_ good at later much easier. That, and every since she tried that approach her magic had gotten much, much stronger than anyone else her age.

Eventually Tsubaki got tired of the arguing between Maka and Soul, and managed to get through to them about being meister and weapon.

It took a few minutes, but Maka and Soul _finally_ got over whatever it was that was keeping them apart.

"Finally! It's about time you two! I was worried you were trying to immolate Black Star, Maka!" said Aurora smirking.

_'Actually, she has a point. You have been trying to copy Black Star a little bit for the past few days,' _said Soul.

"Hey!"

"I think it's time we dealt with this mangy mutt, don't you Masamune?"

_'Can we get this over with? I hate the cold.'_

Aurora did something the others didn't expect. She disconnected the two swords, and held Masamune downward. She was going to use a technique that Mifune had banned her from using unless she wanted to kill someone.

"_**Dance of the Winter Willows!"**_

Dots of black and gold light appeared wherever Masamune touched the ground. For each new dots, the power behind her strike increased. It almost appeared like she was dancing in the snow, as she began to strike at the werewolf.

Free gasped as he felt the power of the strike. Combined with Masamune's Enchanted Sword mode, the sword technique was quite strong. If Aurora had been Pandora, it would have been devastating to the people around her.

She cut his tail in half, and did some serious damage to his internal organs. If he wasn't Immortal, it would have killed him in an instant! (Mostly because she had nearly sliced _him_ in half with that blow.)

* * *

Snape watched the battle between the teens and the werewolf with shock and horror.

Albus expected him to kidnap someone like _that?_ He was obviously more senile than he took him for.

Snape still felt the ache in his heart as he watched them. It reminded him painfully of his own days at the Academy, back before he had drifted apart from Lily.

Snape was a Mace type weapon, and Lily had been his Meister. Ever since they had been separated by the pressures of the houses they were sent to, they had been unable to resonate.

Snape frowned. Watching the fight had brought back several memories he was unaware that he had lost.

He remembered Spirit and Stein, the two nut jobs from a class over. How had he forgotten people like that? Where did these memories of the Wizard's world come from.

Realization hit him like a brick, as he felt the power behind the girl's attack. Her technique had been flawlessly executed...exactly like Lily's had been.

He could feel a headache coming on, so he Apparated to the nearest bar he could in Knockturn.

Four hours later, and one Firewhiskey bottle gone, he realized he was in no condition to return to the school. Apparating was too dangerous, and with the way the room was spinning he was unlikely to find the right fireplace. And there was no way in hell he was taking the Knight Bus.

In his rented room above the bar (it was one of the more pleasant ones) his mind drifted back to his real memories of Lily Evans ne Potter.

* * *

_The next morning..._

Severus Snape woke with a start. And he tried not to snarl.

_That senile meddling old bastard! How dare he modify my memories like that!_

Seeing a fight between Meisters and souls had rekindled his real memories. Memories that had been buried so deep it was a miracle he could still see them.

Snape finally remembered who he was.

He was Severus Snape, the Mace Weapon of Lily Evans, and he didn't take crap from anyone! So what if he had love of Chemistry! He never backed down from a fight before, and he wasn't going to start now!

Snape snarled, and went downstairs. Albus would no doubt try to follow him if he got wind of what he was planning to do.

He had had enough of Europe for a life time. It was time to head back to where his home really was.

Death City. Hopefully Lord Death wouldn't be too angry at him.

* * *

Lord Death heard his mirror ring, and when he saw who was on the other end he was understandably surprised.

Severus Snape hadn't spoken to him in nearly twenty years, ever since he had drifted away from his meister at that school. It was part of the reason Lily had died.

"Hello Severus. I must admit, I'm surprised you remember the number."

"I was recently sent to retrieve the Potter girl. Seeing that fight awoke memories I wasn't aware that I had lost."

"Aurora is quite a talented Meister. So what prompted this call?" asked Death.

"I want to come home. I'm sick of dancing to the tune of that old goat."

Death frowned. He had tried and failed to find Snape after Lily had died, to see how he was handling it. Now he knew why.

"It would appear Dumbledore has a great deal to answer for."

"...Would you happen to know how to get rid of Tattoos made of Dark Magic?"

"You joined with Tom, didn't you."

"I was pressured into it. I suspect the old bastard may have had a hand in the decision as well."

"You didn't eat any human souls did you?" he asked in concern.

"Lord Death, up until fifth year I had been following your rules. Then my memory suddenly gets scrambled up, and I started to believe I was a wizard and not a weapon. I can barely remember how to turn into my weapon form at this point."

"So you lost your memory after fifth year?"

"Any memories after that point until last night are hazy. I don't remember what a soul even tastes like."

"Come home Severus. Perhaps we can do something about this problem you're having."

Snape looked relieved, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"I may bring a few people with me. A werewolf and an escaped convict."

"Oh?"

"Remus Lupin and Sirius Black."

"If I remember right, they were James Potter's friends. Aurora might enjoy meeting them."

* * *

Sirius looked at Snape in disbelief. The dour man had appeared without warning in Remus' cottage, and he knew where Aurora was.

He was also willing to bring them with him.

"Right...have you lost your mind?" asked Sirius cautiously.

"I'm leaving England, and I'm not coming back. This is likely your best chance to see your Pup on good terms before Dumbledore tries to send you after her. If I know Lily, any child of hers won't take to kidnapping very well."

Sirius looked at Remus. The two came to an agreement, and packed everything they owned. Remus went to Gringotts with Padfoot, and had all of their money transferred to America. Anything they couldn't transfer was locked down, so Dumbledore couldn't get his hands on it.

Then Snape summoned the portal he half remembered, and they stepped through.

Sirius and Remus blinked at the sudden change. They were outside a forest, right on the boundary of the strangest city they had ever seen.

Cartoonish skulls littered the city, and everything seemed like they were in a magical alley.

"Welcome to Death City. Might as well get this over with..." muttered Snape.

Sirius and Remus stared. _This_ was the personification of Death?

"Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to the DWMA Remus Lupin and Sirius Black!"

"You're...Death?" asked Sirius carefully.

"I had to change the mask. Kept scaring the children," said Death jovially.

He reminded Sirius of Dumbledore, only Death didn't have the same aura the man let off. Dumbledore felt like a spider that had you in his web, and he could manipulate the strings to see how you would twitch before the end.

"Ah."

"I must admit, I was surprised to hear about your escape. Dementors are not the nicest of beings," said Death.

"Luckily I can turn into a dog, otherwise they would have driven me insane like my cousin," said Sirius.

"You are insane Black, why else would you come up with half the crap you used to pull on me?" retorted Snape.

"He has a point Padfoot," chuckled Remus.

"You're no better Lupin," quipped Snape.

"Now now, there's no need to fight. We still have to get you settled in before Aurora can see you."

"How is she?" asked Sirius with worry.

"She's perfectly fine, and has already made several friends and family of her own. She lives with her partner and her little sister Angela. Mifune acts like their surrogate father/older brother, so there's very little fighting."

"Partner? Aurora's too young to have a husband!" said Sirius.

Snape looked at Lord Death, who gave a slight nod.

"OW! What the hell Snape?"

"He meant her Weapon partner, you idiot," snarked Snape.

Snape sighed. He knew he should have told them where he was taking them, but he honestly was in a hurry to leave England before the old goat found him.

"I'll have Spirit and Sid explain to them where they are. Why don't you look around Severus?" suggested Lord Death.

"Yes sir," said Snape.

* * *

Sirius and Remus were in shock.

They were in a school that taught children how to take out bad souls, and turn into weapons at will. The only good thing was that Death at least kept track of the children and kept them from turning evil.

Then there was the fact that Aurora had been forced to flee at the young age of six because Albus had been idiotic enough to leave their Pup at the hands of her third cousin Petunia! It was a lot to take in.

So here they were, enjoying the breeze and watching the sun laugh. Below them a girl with braided hair and comfortable clothes was on a date with her boyfriend, who Spirit told them was Lord Death's son, Death the Kid.

What Spirit had neglected to mention was that Kid's girlfriend happened to be the same girl they were looking for.

Death had told them that he would send Aurora to meet them at a small corner cafe in a few days. She had a lot of information to take in, and it was best to take things slow.

Of course sometimes things never work out the way you plan...


	7. Chapter 7

"Wait a minute. My mother's old weapon, my godfather and my uncle on my Dad's side just _happened_ to show up a few days after we went to England? Could someone tell me what's really going on here?" demanded Aurora.

"It would appear Dumbledore had a hand in the separation of your mother and her partner. Severus Snape has told me that after fifth year, his memories of the Academy and who he really was became so hazy that he forgot all about being a weapon. If he hadn't seen you fight that Immortal on the bridge, it's likely that he would still be in England."

"And my uncles?" she demanded, eyes narrowed.

"Sirius Black was falsely accused of betraying your parents. He had been locked up for twelve years before he found out the real traitor was still alive, and escaped to capture him. Remus was unable to take you in because of his condition, which turns him into a werewolf every full moon."

"So?"

"Both of them went looking for you once they realized that you were missing. Remus fully believed you were in a safe location, and he had been ordered not to come near you unless you specifically asked for him."

"Let me guess...Dumbledore again," growled Aurora.

"Yes. That man has a lot to answer for. But if things continue on as they have, I may have to put him on the List of wizards that the students are allowed to hunt."

"Where are they now?"

"They'll be waiting for you at the Cat's Cafe next to Chupacabra in two days. I thought it would be a good idea for you to adjust to the news first."

"...And that is yet another reason why I actually like you better than this Dumbledore man," said Aurora.

* * *

Sirius was busy looking at the books in the shop, mostly because he wanted to know more about the world he had been dropped in. Once he had seen exactly what the students did (mostly took out murderers and people who could no longer be qualified as people even in a general sense) and the way Death made sure the students were never in any real danger they couldn't escape from, he had tentatively accepted the entire thing.

About halfway up the shelf, he realized there was someone below him looking at books. Her hair was braided rather tightly against her head, and it was almost pitch black.

Seeing no reason not to ask for help, he said "Do you happen to know where I can find a book on the history of the DWMA?"

Emerald eyes met his, and he nearly fell off the ladder in total shock.

The girl was almost a female clone of James, aside from the eyes, scar and the fact that she had a Japanese sword on her back.

"It's two shelves over, and to the right of the instruction manuals for the portals."

"Thanks..." he said.

"You might want to close your mouth, you're catching flies," she added as an afterthought.

The shopkeeper took one look at the girl and beamed at her.

"Back again Aurora? What's the topic of the week?"

"Chemistry. I heard that my mother's old weapon was a chemist nut that could put Stein to shame," she answered.

The man laughed.

"Snape used to come in here and raid my shelves for books on that. Wonder how the old boy's doing."

"I heard he's going to teach Chemistry to the Second Star teams. Should be interesting," said Aurora.

The man laughed.

"That boy was as social as Stein, and with the personality of Excalibur when it came to his chemistry set," he replied.

Aurora winced.

"Is he that bad?"

"Lily was the only meister who could put up with his personality quirks."

"I can only hope he's not a narcissist like Excalibur. I mean really, who writes a book about themselves with that much pomp and airs?"

The man laughed, agreeing with her completely.

Sirius found the book he had been looking for, bought it and left in shock.

Aurora was definitely her mother's child, with none of James cocky attitude. Snape would be thrilled.

* * *

Remus took one look at Sirius and said "What happened?"

"I saw her Moony. She's a mini Lily."

Remus choked.

"Did she realize who you were?"

"No, I don't think so. She looked like James Moony..." said Sirius wistfully. He still missed Prongs.

Remus looked sad too. Their death had been a hard blow.

* * *

Aurora answered the door, and Snape stood there.

"So you're my mother's old weapon. Come on in," she said.

Snape looked in approval when he realized the house was almost full of books. And only a third of it was fiction. The rest were topics that were rather advanced for most fourteen year old girls.

Once it was clear that she didn't hold a grudge against him for leaving her mother, Snape left with a sense of relief. By next week he would be teaching chemistry to students who didn't have the same attitude as the magical children. Most of his snarky attitude came from the fact that their snobby attitude always rubbed him the wrong way.

DWMA students at least had a head on their shoulders, and only those who shared the same interest as he did would be taking the class. It was also only available to people who managed to become Second Star teams, which meant they were a bit more mature than normal teenagers.

Aurora and Angela were more than happy to take him up on his offer on learning Potions. They were sorely lacking in a proper teacher, and he was happy in the knowledge that they would actually _listen_ to his instructions and ask intelligent questions.

After ten years of teaching inbred morons who had a hard enough time remembering which end of the wand to hold, he had developed a real hate for children. The fact that the only thing he could do to take the edge off his anger and annoyance was to treat the children like crap did nothing to soothe his rage at being forced to teach complete morons.

* * *

Aurora waited with her cousin, Angela, Maka and Masamune. Kid was busy with Patty and Liz that day.

The man from the bookstore and someone who looked ten years older than they actually were approached.

Aurora looked at the man with the rather lanky hair.

"I knew something was off about you. There aren't that many Wizards in Death City," she said.

Sirius faltered for a second. She had noticed he wasn't normal?

"I can see souls, idiot. Lucky for you that isn't a common trait among meisters, or you would have an actual problem."

"Right..."

Remus sat down first, and started off.

"I'm going to assume Lord Death told you about us. My name is Remus Lupin."

"The werewolf, right? Which makes him dog boy," said Aurora.

Remus stared and Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

"This is my cousin Sharky, his meister Maka, my little sister Angela, and my weapon partner Masamune."

"My name is Soul Eater Evans, not Sharky," retorted Soul.

"You look and act like a shark. Ergo your nickname is Sharky," quipped Aurora.

Angela stared at Sirius and Remus, though she definitely amused the two with her lizard hat.

Sirius grinned. He had been worried that Aurora had taken after Lily more than James, but here was evidence that she had some of her father's personality traits.

"My name is Sirius Black, also known as Padfoot," said Sirius.

"So what exactly can the two of you do anyway?" she asked.

Sirius smirked, then shifted into Padfoot.

Aurora and Angela didn't even blink.

"That's it? Transformation magic isn't that hard to pull off," said Aurora.

Seeing the disbelief in their eyes, Angela transformed into a small gecko on Aurora's shoulder. They were understandably stunned at that.

"How can a little girl pull of something that complicated?" asked Remus.

"Most Witches can pull off a transformation like that. It's why quite a few of their spells involve whichever animal they like best. Hell, Medusa doesn't even need her chant to turn into a snake, and she's one of the most evil Witches out there!" said Aurora.

Angela popped back into her human form, unable to maintain the magic.

Sirius sputtered a bit.

"It took me three years and several near misses just to learn how to do this right!"

Aurora looked at him incredulous.

"Sirius-ly? Witches get taught that kind of thing second year, and it usually only takes five months for them to master it."

"So what animal do you take after?" asked Remus.

"Any one that has a connection to chaos. I'm one of the few Witches who isn't dependent on the familiar contract. It's why I'm known as the Witch of Chaos, Pandora."

Remus wisely changed the topic.

"So how did you met your partner?" he asked.

"I tried to devour her soul and she kicked my ass," said Masamune tonelessly.

Stone silence met his words. Soul snickered a bit.

"Yeah, and ever since then he tries to run for the hills during the new moon. Though I haven't had to tie him up since I came to live in Death City again..."

"You turn into an unholy pranking demon of hell every new moon. Can you blame me for wanting to be spared from that hellish experience?" replied Masamune.

"Hmm...nope."

"Unholy pranking demon of hell?" asked Sirius, definitely amused now. Finally some common ground!

"Every new moon she has that time of the month, and she used to take it out on us until Maka finally helped her with the stomach cramps she got. She still gets us with pranks if she runs out of the medicine," said Masamune deadpan, wincing at the memory.

"Don't forget about 'The List' next to the jobs," said Soul, snickering.

"The List?" asked Remus.

"The List of people who had pissed her off enough that she pranks them within an inch of their life. Dangerous territory, and most people who get on it run for their lives to another country so she can't get them."

"Spirit deserved everything he got, and don't deny it!" proclaimed Aurora, an evil glint in her eye.

And just like that, it all went downhill. Sirius, upon learning that Aurora did in fact have the pranking gene like he hoped, quickly shifted the topic to pranks. It didn't take long for him to figure out that Aurora had found a circle of friends who were more than willing to help her out.

Maka proved to be as brilliant as Lily only with a bit more of the pranking bug than the red head. She also had the same temper as Lily.

(Sirius remembered quite fondly of Lily nearly braining James a few times for crass remarks with a book that would appear out of nowhere on her person. Out of the Marauders, only Remus had been spared from that attack.)

It was quickly apparent that Aurora not only took after her mother in personality (except when it came to pranks, because that was definitely all James there) she also inherited that strange attack in which she bludgeons the nearest idiot with a blunt object.

Namely a wooden sword that she had kept from her training days. It was reinforced with magic, and was her weapon of last resort in case her weapons were broken or too far from reach.

It also made a rather good weapon of choice for disciplining complete morons.

* * *

Severus Snape was a happy man. Why?

Because he no longer had to deal with the prejudice atmosphere and irritating Headmaster who insisted that he try to correct centuries worth of hate.

After two years of actually trying to mend the bridges he had given up and decided to make everyone else as miserable as he was.

Now he was going to teach his favorite subject to teenagers who actually knew what they were doing. Not only did he have a group of intelligent and responsible students, but they didn't have magic to blow up whatever concoction they were attempting that day.

Snape had noted with disgust that children with magic tended to be arrogant with it, and it caused him far too many headaches to count. Plus they believed that magic would solve everything, which meant that they never took Potions seriously at all.

To his surprise (and delight) Aurora was in his first class. She had actually gone to the bookstore and gotten the proper reading material ahead of time.

He walked into the classroom, and for once didn't have his dark cloak on.

He had thrown out his cloaks and other traditional wizard outfits the second Lord Death had told him he could stay in Death City. He had never liked the robes anyway.

"I am your new chemistry teacher, Severus Snape. You are to address me as Professor, am I clear?"

Seeing the looks the teens sent his way made his day. They were used to people like him.

And to his delight, not a single student in his class acted like a wizard child. They were attentive, actually asked intelligent questions about the subject, and listened to his instructions carefully before doing anything.

He was quite happy that not a single explosion happened on his first day.

* * *

Aurora watched her cauldron like a hawk. Snape was an exactly potions teacher, and he had quickly realized that the girl was smart enough to actually listen to him. Her sister Angela was right beside her, and her cauldron was bubbling properly.

Neither of the girls complained about his exacting methods, or the fact that he wouldn't be teaching them magic. They were more likely to solve a problem without resorting to magic, which was why he had decided to teach them.

Mifune was nearby with a large water bucket, just in case. Masamune was currently reading in the living room.

Aurora and Angela took their cauldrons off the fire carefully, trying not to spill a drop. To Snape's delight, both girls had created a perfect potion, with only a few minor errors.

Much to the shock of Lupin (who had taught alongside Snape an entire year and heard the man hated children with a passion) Snape was actually a rather good teacher.

It was just the attitude of magical children had always rubbed him the wrong way, and years of dealing with complete and utter idiots who weren't even interested in his favorite subject turned him into a snarky bastard.

The fact that he wasn't a morning person, however, was completely normal for him. Which was why all his classes were in the afternoon.

He loathed mornings.

* * *

Dumbledore was beyond angry. Not only had Snape abruptly _vanished_ with almost little to no warning, he had dared to resign from his post at the school! Didn't the traitorous spy know that his freedom was solely dependent on staying in the school?

He scowled. It was time he took matters into his own hands.

He would have to find Aurora Potter and drag her back from America kicking and screaming. There was no other options.

She would not leave Europe alive again.


	8. Chapter 8

There is a little known fact about Death City.

It has the most natural anti-magic wards around, and unless you are invited in by Lord Death himself (or happen to have meister/weapon blood in you) certain magics can't be cast within the walls.

Or you could be an insanely powerful Witch like Medusa and work past the wards.

Since Lord Death's soul enveloped the entire city in a perfect sphere, magical items such as port keys would refuse to go anywhere near the City itself. Apparition was out unless Death keyed your magic personally to the wards, which only happened if you met him in person and he allowed you to live there.

The only magical transport that could even get near the city without being keyed in was the American Knight Bus, and that would only get you as far as the forest. You would have to walk the last four miles into the city on foot.

This was the main reason Death had the portals made that took his meisters anywhere in the world within seconds. The American Ministry of magic had created them just so Death would keep his students from hunting them down for their weapons.

It was a _I'll leave you alone, if you leave me alone_ deal that worked rather well.

Of course a few times they had a witch or wizard who went really bad, found out about how to eat souls and then started killing people.

In those times they sent a request to Death, and he added the name to the Wizard List.

It would usually take less than a month, and the wizard causing problems would be taken care of.

* * *

Dumbledore was annoyed beyond belief that he had to actually walk. Apparating was out of the question, since he had never been to Death City before. (Plus every time he tried he would end up farther away).

His broom was out, because he never brought it with him. There were no port keys because of the fact that the people who lived there reacted badly to such sudden appearances.

So for the first time in decades, Albus Dumbledore had to exert more energy than he was used to just to simply make it to the gates of the city. After walking for ten miles (the second time he tried to apparate into the city he nearly ended up twenty miles away in the desert. Needless to say he hadn't tried it a third time) he finally entered the city.

And felt whatever kept port keys from being anywhere near the city wake up.

Whatever wards Death used, they were good. Better than the ones at Hogwarts if he dared to admit it.

Everywhere he looked, he saw evidence that Death ruled with an iron fist in the city. Ridiculous cartoon skulls were on every sign post and on almost every building. Yet he saw no signs that the people living in the city were oppressed by the rule.

Eventually someone took notice of him, and an adult approached. There was only one small problem with the person before him.

He was quite clearly dead. And had a very blue skin tone.

"Lord Death would like to know why a wizard has entered the city uninvited. You'll have to come with me, because you're causing a bit of a problem here."

Dumbledore followed him, mostly because he had no idea where Death was. He balked when he saw the staircase that lead up to the only school in the area.

There was no way he could climb that many stairs! He rarely went up higher than the astronomy tower since he became Headmaster! It took him a good three hours simply to reach the top of the stairs, though he had to admit the view was rather good.

The zombie before him was somewhat amused and surprised at how out of shape he was.

Of course Lord Death was not happy to see Dumbledore. At all.

(Dumbledore had noted with some surprise that a scroll of paper near the large bulletin board outside the class abruptly shifted his name to the top when he passed by it. His name had glowed and the zombie looked at him with the strangest look he had ever seen. Considering it was coming from someone already dead he had been unable to interpret the look of doom correctly.)

Death took one look at Dumbledore and said bluntly "You are not kidnapping one of my best meisters from the Academy. I don't care what your excuse it, Aurora Potter has absolutely no reason to go to Hogwarts."

Dumbledore blinked, wondering how the hell he knew what he was planning before saying "She will need to have magical training if she is to live in her parent's footsteps."

"She already is. She's followed her mother's path and is an intelligent young lady with a sensible friend for a partner. She has her father's sense of mischief, and has been getting magical training since she was seven. Frankly I see no reason to send her to your school when she is perfectly capable of learning about magic here."

"Her inheritance is in England," Dumbledore pointed out.

"We have a few branches in America, and it wouldn't be _that_ hard to transfer the funds," countered Death.

This argument continued for a good hour, before Death decided to try a different approach.

He had Aurora come in and tell Dumbledore point blank that she would never attend his school, even if he bribed her with unconditional access to their restricted section.

Aurora looked at the man coldly.

"Your mother would have wanted you to go," he said.

"My _mother_ (she emphasized the word) would want me to stay as far away from England as possible, because of the blood prejudice. She would have been thrilled to learn that I have been keeping up with both sides of my heritage and not focusing solely on my magical blood."

Dumbledore couldn't believe the girl before him was refusing to even consider coming to Hogwarts. Most people _jumped_ at the chance to come.

"You, sir, lost any and _all_ privileges afforded to you as my magical guardian the day my so called Aunt tried to kill me. Did it EVER occur to you to verify that Lily Potter was in fact directly related to Petunia Dursley?!"

Dumbledore, taken aback by the idea that Petunia was dumb enough to attempt to kill his pawn, had no way to counter that statement.

As Aurora spent the next two hours literally ripping into his precious magical community (taking great pleasure in verbally destroying any and all counter arguments) Lord Death was very, very glad that Aurora at least respected him enough not to do the same to him.

Even though he had neglected to tell her about her actual cousin until after she had run away. She could forgive his bouts of forgetfulness, since he had several meisters and weapons to train. He couldn't take that much time to deal with her personal problems, it would seem too much like favoritism (coughDumbledorecough) and that was the last thing she wanted.

Dumbledore left Death City empty handed, and thoroughly chastised. He had never realized how badly he had screwed up by leaving the girl with her cousin (he also couldn't believe that he had missed the fact that Lily wasn't directly related to Petunia. They didn't even _look_ alike for Merlin's sake!).

Clearly he would have to take a different approach. Oh well, the prophesy did say that it was a child born at the end of July, and Aurora Potter wasn't the only person who had fit the criteria.

Neville Longbottom would make a fine pawn. He didn't even have any self confidence to give him problems.

* * *

"So let me get this straight. Not only did that blasted old goat appear here, but he left after Aurora verbally shredded into him?" asked Sirius.

"That would be the basic gist of it, yes. I have his entire visit record on the mirror if you want a look," said Death, amused.

"Hell yes! Pardon my language."

"No offense taken. I may just keep this recording until I can catch the man at breaking the laws of Death, and then you can watch your goddaughter using his soul to turn her weapon into a proper Death Scythe."

About a month after the visit from Dumbledore, they were preparing for the annual party for the school. Students and teachers were the only ones invited, though Sirius and Remus were given a rare pass inside when they offered to teach magic to the kids.

(A few had demonstrated magical ability, and had expressed an interest.)

Normally little Angela and Mifune wouldn't be able to join in, but as Aurora had learned by accident, Angela _did_ have some meister blood in her.

Angela had been attending the junior classes with Mifune's permission. It kept her out of his hair for a while and it was good exercise. Plus she usually ate with Aurora at lunch, so they had something to bond over.

Once she was old enough, Aurora was going to take Angela out to find her partner. Possibly an unregistered one like she had.

* * *

Aurora was helping decorate. Since she mastered flight, she had been asked to decorate the higher areas. She didn't mind, since it gave her an excuse to practice her flight spell, and her magic teachers were helping her by levitating the decorations up to her.

Sirius and Remus were already planning to sneak in some alcohol even though it was a school party. Death planned to look the other way.

Mostly because the only type of alcohol that he would bring in was butterbeer, which was relatively harmless.

"Coming up!" Sirius called out.

Getting on a broom (which amused Aurora greatly, since she didn't need one) Sirius hovered next to her.

Aurora was flying on a miniature disc of magic with the decorations beside her. It had taken her months of experimenting to be able to create the disc, and to keep it going while she did something else.

But now her favorite thing to do was zoom around town. She even gave the other kids rides, if they asked politely enough.

"So how's it going?"

"We've got almost all of it done, but I'm worried."

"Why?"

"Witches have been more active of late, and I heard rumors that Medusa is up to something big that involves the Academy."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Magic Conclave. The Misune sisters were complaining that someone from Death Academy killed their eldest sister."

"Misune?"

"Five sisters who look like mice. Though when they combine they tend to wear this really scandalous outfit that opens at the bottom."

"You know this how?"

"Seen it happen once, want the memory?"

"Yes please!"

Aurora liked Sirius well enough, he reminded her of a more silly Death Scythe. Of course she had adopted Maka's usually method of discipline to keep him from embarrassing her too much.

Remus got along better with Mifune than Sirius did...of course he was taking sword lessons from the man.

"So what's Angela up to?"

"She's still trying to convince me to add geckos to the decorations..."

"Why not? Add them to random balloons or something. Not like anyone ever pays attention to the balloons."

"Point. Alright, she can add geckos."

Angela, who was listening below (and practicing her levitation spell that Remus showed her) cheered. She dashed outside the hall and brought out her large box of gecko dolls. Grinning at her surrogate little sister she started to add the geckos to the balloons.

* * *

Sirius got the party started once Death made his speech, and the kids absolutely loved trying butterbeer for the first time. Aurora had a lot of fun dancing with Kid, while Masamune tried not to blush as Patty danced with him. Tsubaki found it rather funny.

Everything was going great...until Medusa went to dance with Stein. Aurora broke free to use the restroom, and it was so crowded she went down to the next floor. Right as she was about to go up the stairs, she felt magic starting up.

Worried, she used a scan spell to find out what the hell was going on...and winced. There were a lot of witches outside, and one of them was casting a spell to keep Death in place.

Instead of going up, she went down. She always kept a spare change of clothing for when practice got a little hard and tore whatever she was wearing.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Aurora?" asked Kid. Masamune had fallen through with Patty, and they were trying to stop Medusa from awakening the Kishin.

"Not since the party. I don't remember seeing her after Medusa jumped out the window," said Maka.

"Seen who?" asked a voice from behind.

"Aurora... Aurora! Where did you go?" asked Soul.

Their jaws dropped. She had been in an elegant dress earlier, but now she was wearing deep blue shorts, a shirt with the sleeves on her arms instead of her shoulders in night black, and wearing a belt with a silver snake eating it's own tail. The snake had a pair of wings on both sides of her waist. Around her neck was a purple crystal. She had a pair of swords for earrings.

"Aurora...where did you get that?" asked Kid, staring.

"It was the only available outfit out of my spares. The rest were in the laundry for tomorrow. So what is going on?"

"Medusa has a bunch of other witches outside, and one of them has everyone trapped in a cube that we can't break. Lord Death wants us to keep her from awakening the Kishin," said Maka, leading them down.

"The bathrooms upstairs were so full I went down a floor. I was wondering what that magic build-up outside was..." said Aurora.

She came to a decision, and called up the black disc.

"Everyone, get on. We'll get there faster if you guys ride instead of run."

It was Maka who recognized Death Scythe's rather annoying soul signature.

"We'll deal with his idiocy later! Let's stop them from waking up the Kishin!" said Aurora.

Aurora watched in amusement as Maka went all out against Chrona. Her scrying spell was so useful some days. She ran alongside Kid, with her sword strapped to her back. The closer they got to the Kishin, the stronger the effects became.

Strangely, Aurora was completely unaffected by the effects.

Her mind raced, while Kid and Black Star were feeling the dark effects. While they still didn't feel it, they could sense it, and that was more than enough.

While they ran/glided, they all kept reliving their worst days.

For Black Star, it was the day he was told of his heritage, and the reason why the teachers kept such a close eye on him.

For Kid, it was the day Patty nearly ruined his personal symmetry and his clothes.

For Patty and Liz, it was the day they first started living on the street.

For Tsubaki, it was the day she learned her brother had gone rogue and was killing people to eat their souls.

For Masamune, it was the first vestiges of madness that he felt.

Aurora saw the day her Aunt wanted to kill her because of what she was. That would forever be the worst day of her life. The fear, the pain, the sadness. While she had worked out most of it, she could still feel the stark shock and pain of realizing her flesh and blood wanted to kill her for no other reason than the fact that they didn't want her.

For some reason, she felt nothing as they approached the source of all madness. It was as if there was an emotional void in her soul. She couldn't even feel joy, sadness, or pain. She could feel nothing.

She was the only one who didn't attack the Wolfman's image.


	9. Chapter 9

Aurora stood before the Kishin, barely registering the Frog Witch and the Immortal Werewolf. Kid and Black Star were completely freaking out.

But she felt nothing. It was like there was a great black abyss where her mind was at the moment.

"_Aurora, what the hell is up with your soul right now? I'm having trouble maintaining our wavelength,"_ asked Masamune.

Something inside her snapped. Slowly she started to cackle madly.

"**Aurora is sleeping. Now you'll have to deal with Pandora,"** cackled the Witch.

"What?" said Kid.

"**Little Aurora can't handle the burden of his madness. There is a reason why she has the power of Chaos instead of some measly animal!" **cackled Pandora.

She began to wave her hands in a random pattern only she could understand.

_Pan Pan Pandorian Pandemonium! Chaos Night Blitz!_

Masamune didn't know what to think of Pandora's true nature. Aurora rarely broached too deep into her natural alignment, but when she did things tended to go badly...for the people fighting her anyway. When she got serious, she was a total powerhouse bent on absolute destruction.

Aurora was Chaotic Good, her Witch side was Chaotic Neutral.

The Madness, which had filled the very air they breathed, was overshadowed by the sheer chaotic nature of Pandora's power. She devoured the darkness the Kishin caused by his presence, and replaced it with pure undiluted darkness.

Kid could only be thankful that Aurora was a naturally kind person, because feeling that deep abyss scared him to his core. Humans all had a tiny bit of madness in them...but they were predisposed to Order.

Chaos scared humans. It was impossible to bring order to the chaos Pandora used.

Once the Madness was gone, Black Star and Kid found that it was much, much easier to breathe. Free and the Frog Witch, on the other hand, found it harder.

The Frog Witch managed to puncture the odd bag which held the Kishin in it with the Black Blood. The second it started to revive, Pandora's power levels shot through the roof. Her chaos magic was amplified by the Kishin's madness.

When the roof broke and the Kishin shot out of the underground catacombs (morphed by decades of exposure to his Madness) Pandora was quick to follow.

* * *

Lord Death didn't know how this would all turn out, but in any event Pandora, the Witch half of Aurora's personality which had always worried him (she has a split personality, one of which controls Chaos. Do I really need to explain his concerns?), would finally show her allegiance.

Chains of black energy bound the Kishin. Pandora appeared, flying on wings made of midnight colored magic.

"**There is no Madness in this world, there can only be the Abyss!"**

Lord Death frowned. He had heard of the Abyss, but he didn't think that was where Aurora's power had originally come from. Though it certainly explained the split personality issue she had.

As she tried to chain the Kishin down, Lord Death went in for the kill. The man screamed and made most of the normal humans wince at the sound. It was horrible. Pandora didn't flinch at all, but her chains did loosen up enough that the thing escaped. Aurora was starting to wake up, now that the Madness was being suppressed by Chaos.

Suddenly she dropped like a stone, and Lord Death barely caught her. Her magic was cut like a marionette on a string. She was out cold for three days.

* * *

"EH?! You want me to go into the past to train my magic?!" said Aurora incredulous.

"It's quite simple really. When I heard the term 'abyss' by your alternate personality, I realized that your power wasn't in fact purely magical in nature. The problem is that left untrained, it could lead to a reopening of a dimension I had sealed off quite some time ago with the permission of its master. They occasionally come to visit me and enjoy the outside, but the place is more or less closed off," said Lord Death.

"So what does this have to do with my magic?"

"It seems your Witch power stems from the Abyss itself, which is rather problematic. Weapons can devour Kishin eggs with no problem, but taking care of people with Chains is another story entirely. And with the Kishin free again it would be an outright disaster if Chains started to reappear as frequently as they did while the Abyss was still active," said Death.

"...This does explain why I've been hitting a wall when it comes to my magic training. So what would happen if I did go into the past?"

"Well for starters you would most likely have to deal with an organization called Pandora, since they would mistake your Witch power for that of a High Powered Chain..."

As Lord Death explained, Aurora's interest only grew instead of dropping.

"What do I have to do? I don't want my powers to go berserk because I didn't get the right training," asked Aurora.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this? Once you start that path, you won't be able to stop until it ends," asked Death.

"I want to know more. More about Pandora...and about myself. I really doubt I'll see anything worse than I have already gone through," said Aurora.

"I'll give you a week to prepare and say your goodbyes. Since Masamune has been in contact with your Witch Power, it's very possible that he can join you, but I would pack accordingly just in case," Death warned.

* * *

"You're going to _what_?" said Kid.

"I'm going to the past to train my powers. Your dad told me that the place where they originate was sealed off a few hundred years ago and all mentions of it were destroyed. He told me this was the only way to insure that my powers didn't accidentally break open the seal."

"But that would mean you'd leave!" said Kid.

"Only for a little while, a few months at best. According to Lord Death the Abyss doesn't exactly go through the normal stream of Time, so I might be a bit off. I'll be back better than ever!"

"Why do you have to go? I thought you had control of your powers?"

"I've hit a dead-end. And the only texts that even remotely relate to my full ability were destroyed."

Kid wasn't too happy about the fact he couldn't go with his girlfriend. However, Aurora knew she had to go. If she didn't, she would never reach her full potential and that was simply unacceptable.

"Tell you what, how about I leave something of mine behind so that you know I'll come back?" she said.

Aurora reached into her bag and brought something out.

"But this is..."

It was her custom wand. She had crafted it solely by examining Sirius' and Remus' wands just so she could use their brand of magic. It was something she treasured, so she rarely left home without it. It didn't hurt that she had created it to respond to her magic alone, and it was rather difficult to create a new one from scratch without help.

"Kid, I leave you responsible for my wand."

Kid had nothing to say. Aurora really trusted him to keep it safe.

"Who knows, maybe I can take Chrona with me. At the very least I can calm down enough that he can attend the Academy without getting into trouble."

"Chrona, the kid with the Demon Sword?"

"Chrona follows my orders, and he trusts me well enough that I can calm down the Kishin blood he has. Plus I really don't want to unleash his poetry on the school just yet."

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's so depressing that reading it causing a cloud of misery to come over your head. Trust me on this," said Aurora.

Lord Death didn't mind sending Chrona with her, since Aurora was one of the few people Chrona had regular contact with. He trusted her well enough. As it stood, this would be good for the boy. Chrona needed interaction with others before he could properly come to the Academy.

"So what do we do?"

Lord Death lead them to an odd door hidden in the Academy. It had large gold chains that had inscriptions on it.

"This door leads to the Abyss. I'm going to see if Oz is around first, so he can lead you into the past. Ever since he became master and calmed the Will of the Abyss down, it's become easier to travel through time there."

Shinigami knocked on the door three times, and they heard someone shouting back.

"_KEEP IT DOWN! WE'RE TRYING TO SLEEP!"_

Shinigami laughed and did it again.

A head of blackish brown hair popped out of the door, which Aurora realized opened inward.

"Who's the wise guy banging on the door?!" demanded the girl.

"Hello Alice. Is Oz around?"

"Hold up a sec... OZ! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

Alice left the door and a man with long blond hair and green eyes similar to Aurora's appeared.

"Hello Lord Death. It's been a while since we saw you."

"Hello Oz. I have a pair of students who could use a training trip in the past."

"Why?"

"Aurora here is a Witch... Recently we've learned where her true power stems, but there's a problem," said Lord Death.

"Oh?"

"Her power comes from the Abyss itself. Her Witch personality has confirmed this, and since I don't want your Chains breaking free I felt it necessary to have her train in another time line to keep it in check."

"Oh ho! So another Witch has been born with the power of the Abyss? I haven't seen someone with the ability to tap into the Abyss since Lily," said Oz.

"Mom had the same power?" asked Aurora.

"Well that explains it. So you're her child? In that case I'll let you two go into the past once you agree to the same terms she did."

"What terms are those?"

"Under no circumstances are you to make a contract with a Chain. No changing the past irrevocably, and no telling anyone the future."

"I think we can agree to that, but to be fair we don't know the future. All the books were destroyed years ago. Not even a hint of the Abyss was left," said Aurora. She had looked.

"Alright then. You'll just have to do a little bit of studying so you don't stand out too much," said Oz with a grin.

"Are you sure you've packed everything?" asked Lord Death.

"We're ready!" said Aurora, holding Chrona's hand firmly.

"Then step into the door...and pray your magic will hold you through to the end," said Oz.

They stepped through the gilded door...and into darkness.

* * *

Aurora could just barely feel Chrona's hand in her own. They were in a room.

"Ow...what the hell?"

"Sorry about that. Even after eight hundred years I still can't change travel through the Abyss. It doesn't help that we don't get many visitors anymore."

A light appeared, and they saw Oz standing with the girl from before.

"Welcome to the deepest part of the Abyss. Just to let you know, we don't actually _have_ the power to send you back. Lord Death's seal is a bit too powerful for us to send your through."

"WHAT? Then how are we supposed to get back home once I get a better understanding of my power?" asked Aurora.

"Find the creator of the Abyss. It was once called a sea of gold in the darkness, before Alyss was sealed in there by mistake. After that incident, the Chains started to jump in number and the nature of the Abyss was altered permanently," said Alice.

"However, there is a tiny catch. The woman who accidentally created the Abyss is a bit eccentric. Plus, it was her power that controls the flow of time."

"What's so bad about that?" asked Chrona.

"Because the only Witches who ever possess the power of the Abyss...are her descendants. The one who can take you back to your time is your ancestor," said Oz.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Because your ancestor...is the infamous Witch of Destruction."

Aurora's jaw dropped. Everyone who studied magic knew of the Witch of Destruction. A woman who could wipe out the world with a single spell. The only known avatar to the greatest source of magic ever known, the Dark Lord of all Dark Lords.

The Enemy of All Who Live...Lina Inverse.

"NO WAY! Lina Inverse created the Abyss?!"

"The irony is that she never _intended_ to do it. It happened entirely by accident when a new spell she was creating went out of hand and resulted in a side dimension between our world and the world of the Monster race. Sometimes the weaker Monsters got stuck in it, resulting in Chains. When Alyss was sealed, the Chains multiplied at an alarming rate," said Oz.

"Suddenly, I'm glad I asked Mifune to teach that idiot Black Star how to use a sword properly until we got back. I get the feeling this will take a while," said Aurora.

"Oh well. In any case, why don't you chat with Gil and Break? Chrona, you can speak with Sharon. By the time you leave this room you should be able to handle yourselves," said Oz.

* * *

"So this is the past. Weird."

"Aurora...this place makes me nervous," said Chrona.

"Relax. According to Oz, Alyss doesn't mind if we take out a few Chains. Anyway, I'm going to use this time to improve your sword ability. You're the only one who can properly keep up with Masamune and I who isn't a Death Scythe."

Chrona gulped.

They walked along the street, ignoring most other people. Aurora could tell none of them was the woman she was looking for.

Lina Inverse. Creator of the Abyss. Master of Chaos Magic. Witch of Destruction.

Out of all the people she could have been stuck looking for, it had to be the most dangerous Witch in history. Even Lord Death was no match against her. During the class about Witches, they spent an entire week describing her. Hell, it was after that week Aurora had fled the Academy.

She never knew she got the highest score in history for that essay.

Strangely, there were few books about the woman. But one thing was repeated in the ones she found.

Lina Inverse was the most dangerous woman to cross. Her magic was unrivaled. Even Medusa and Arachne couldn't hope to match her.

"What's a little girl like you doing out here alone?"

"I'm not alone. I have my friend with me," said Aurora.

"Two kids like you shouldn't wander around. Where's your mommy and daddy?" sneered the thug.

"Dead. Now be good boys and scram before I kick your ass," said Aurora.

"Hey now..." started the first thug, grabbing her shoulder.

"Masamune."

"_Right."_

In one smooth stroke, Aurora had her sword to the first thug's throat.

"You really don't want to annoy me. I tend to get stab happy when people annoy me."

The thugs were so freaked out by her eyes that they ran like hell.

Masamune returned to human form.

"You weren't being very subtle," he said.

"We don't have time to be subtle," she replied, unaware of someone watching from the shadows.


End file.
